Delivery Delays Force Korean Air to Redeploy the A330-200

DALLAS — Korean Air (KE) will redeploy one Airbus A330-200 months after phasing them out from its fleet. To do so, KE has signed a dry-lease agreement with China Aircraft Leasing Company (CALC) for the A330-200 amid the ongoing delivery delays for new aircraft as a way to source additional aircraft to support the airline's operational needs.

Korean Air previously operated eight units of the Airbus A330-200 aircraft, three of which were retired and scrapped. In 2024, the remaining five frames were transferred to T’Way Air (TW), enabling the low-cost carrier (LCC) to launch nonstop flights to Europe under the European Commission’s fair competition requirements regarding the acquisition of Asiana Airlines (OZ), that letter which reduced certain European flights to Rome, Frankfurt, and Paris in April this week.

Aside from the Airbus A330-200, KE still operates 19 Airbus A330-300s. The A330-200 reintroduced into the fleet is most likely MSN 1096, a 15.1-year-old airframe. This aircraft was operated by the Chinese carrier China Southern Airlines (CZ) as B-6135 from 2010 until recently when it was withdrawn in the first quarter of 2025. 

This Airbus A330-200 airframe is powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines and is configured in a 262-seat layout, 18 in business class and 244 in economy class. The aircraft was ferried from Guangzhou to Busan on March 12, 2025, and is expected to be re-registered as HL8708.

Korean news source The Guru Report cites an unnamed KE official as stating that the airline had decided to dry-lease the Airbus A330-200 aircraft amidst the delays in delivery for the brand new aircraft. He added, “Nothing has been specifically decided on regarding routes or the deployment timing.”

According to Korean Air’s chief executive, Won-Tae Cho, the airline had planned to retire the aforementioned jumbo and superjumbo jets in 2026 before the current delivery delay environment created by the airframer duopoly took hold of the industry.

Aside from the quad-jets, KE also planned to retire the older Boeing 777s from its fleet, but it could not do so for the same reason, citing “delays short by about 20 aircraft per manufacturer,” according to Cho.

“As soon as we get new airplanes, as soon as the next opportunity comes, those two airplanes will be phased out,” added the KE executive, referring to the fleet's Airbus A380 and Boeing 747 aircraft.

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