Korean Air Trims GE Engine Support Deal as 103-Jet Boeing Order Is Finalized

SEOUL — Korean Air (KE) has completed the final contracts for 103 Boeing aircraft and a package of GE Aerospace and CFM International engines, and the engine support portion of the deal now has a shorter term and a lower value than the airline outlined a year ago.

Korean Air said on September 16 that the aircraft purchase is worth US$36.2bn and that it has also completed about US$8.6bn in spare-engine and engine-maintenance contracts. Those cover 21 spare engines from GE Aerospace and CFM, plus a 15-year engine maintenance agreement with GE Aerospace for 28 aircraft. The combined total is US$44.8bn.

When Korean Air signed memoranda of understanding in Washington in August 2025, it described a 20-year GE Aerospace maintenance agreement for the same 28 aircraft, worth US$13bn, alongside 19 spare engines worth US$690m. The value of the 103 aircraft was US$36.2bn then, as it is now. Korean Air's announcement does not explain why the maintenance term and value changed.

The aircraft mix is also unchanged: 20 777-9s, 25 787-10s, 50 737-10s, and eight 777-8 Freighters (777-8Fs). Boeing announced the finalized order the same day, saying it fulfills Korean Air's August 2025 commitment and describing it as a "previously unidentified order."

From MOU to final contract

The 2025 agreements were signed at a Korea-U.S. business roundtable in Washington presided over by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Kim Jung-kwan, South Korea's trade minister. The U.S. Commerce Department described it as a US$50bn deal for 103 Boeing aircraft powered by GE Aerospace engines. At the time, Boeing's announcement called the commitment Korean Air's largest-ever order and Boeing's largest widebody order from an Asian carrier, and said the finalized deal would be the airline's first order for the 777-8F.

In March 2026, Korean Air disclosed the purchase in a regulatory filing that AFP reported through The Korea Times. The filing described a "confirmed purchase" worth about US$36.16bn based on Boeing's 2025 list prices, and said the figure could change with exchange rates and other factors.

Korean Air and Boeing marked the final contracts at a September 15 event in Seoul attended by Korean Air Chairman and CEO Walter Cho, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stephanie Pope, CFM International President and CEO Gaël Méheust, and U.S. Ambassador Michelle Steel. Kim also attended, now as South Korea's minister of trade, industry and resources. Korean Air said the Export-Import Bank of Korea and other state financial institutions had signaled their willingness to support the financing.

The 103 jets add to an earlier Korean Air order that Boeing put at 20 777-9s and 20 787-10s in March 2025. At the time of the August 2025 commitment, Boeing said Korean Air operated 108 Boeing airplanes and had 72 more on order.

Engines and the Korean supply chain

According to the Commerce Department, the widebodies in the deal would be powered by GE Aerospace GE9X and GEnx engines, and the 737-10s by LEAP-1B engines from CFM, GE's joint venture with Safran. In 2025, Korean Air split its planned 19 spare engines between 11 from GE Aerospace and eight from CFM. Its 2026 announcement gives only the new total of 21. For its March 2025 widebodies, the airline had already ordered GEnx and GE9X engines, along with a service agreement covering GE9X maintenance, repair, and overhaul.

Korean Air also builds parts for Boeing. Boeing said in 2025 that the airline's Aerospace Division supplies the 787's raked wingtips and produces parts for the 737 MAX, 767, and 777 families.

Two passenger types still in certification

Korean Air said in 2025 that the aircraft would arrive in sequence through the end of the 2030s. Two of the passenger types have not yet been certified. In a July update on its certification programs, Boeing said the 777-9 had completed about half of its planned certification testing, with the fifth Type Inspection Authorization and the authorizations tied to extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) still outstanding. Boeing is working toward first delivery of the 777-9 in 2027.

The 737-10 is further along. Boeing said on July 28 that the aircraft had completed its final planned certification flight test after 976 flights, and that the program was moving on to close out development assurance reviews and system safety assessments before submitting final deliverables to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As Airways explained when that flight test ended, finishing flight testing is not the same as receiving an amended type certificate. Boeing said the 737-10 remains on the path to certification in 2026 and customer deliveries in 2027. The test program included validating a fix to the 737 engine anti-ice system, which Boeing said it developed after identifying rare conditions that could cause the system to overheat.

Boeing's July updates did not address the 777-8F.

A fleet for the merged airline

Korean Air said the purchase prepares it for medium- and long-term growth after its integration with Asiana Airlines (OZ) and responds early to the aircraft supply delays that have persisted across the industry since the pandemic. The two carriers secured board and shareholder approval on August 12 for a merger set to create a single airline on December 17, 2026. As of that approval, creditor protection procedures and air operator certificate amendments were still to be completed. Asiana is also leaving Star Alliance.

When the commitment was announced in 2025, Cho called the investment "a critical enabler for our future as a merged airline with Asiana."