News
Korean Air wins first Airbus award for A220 operational excellence
October 6th 2021
A superior on-time performance (OTP) has landed Korean Air (KAL) the first Airbus award for A220 operational excellence. Read More » Airbus hands out awards to operators of its aircraft every two years based on factors such as flight duration, number of operated flights and punctuality. This year was the first time Airbus selected the best operator for the A220. KAL said figures from August last year to July this year showed 99.63% of its A220 flights had departed within 15 minutes of the scheduled time compared with the average OTP of global operators of 99%. “An on-time performance of 99.63% indicates there were only 3.7 delays or cancellations caused by maintenance defects for every 1,000 flights,’’ the airline said in a statement. “A high on-time performance rate also signifies an airline is committed to preventive maintenance measures and safety management, providing high levels of safety and passenger service.” A total of 174 A220s are being operated by 11 airlines globally. KAL has been flying 10 of the type since 2017.
Separately, the Korean Herald has reported South Korea’s antitrust regulator planned to complete by the end of this year a review of KAL’s proposed takeover of Asiana Airlines. the flag carrier announced last November that it planned to acquire Asiana in deal valued at 1.8 trillion won (US$1.5 billion).
