Korean Air places massive order for 33 Airbus A350s

Korean Air has confirmed that it is close to signing an agreement to purchase 33 A350 widebodies from Airbus on March 21.

The order includes six A350-900s and 27 A350-1000s, the largest aircraft currently in production by Airbus. The deal is valued at US$13.7 billion.

According to the carrier, the A350 will replace older widebodies and although it does not specify models, it is understood that it will be its A330s, which are already 20 years old on average.

The choice of the A350 is in line with the merger with Asiana Airlines, which already flies 15 jets of the type, part of an order for 30 aircraft.

Among the future routes the aircraft will operate is the Seoul-New York flight, Korean Air said, which currently has two daily flights to the US city.

In addition to the A350 order, Korean Air has orders for 50 A321neo, 10 Boeing 787-9, 20 787-10 and 30 737 MAX 8.

The announcement came at almost the same time as Japan Airlines revealed plans to order 20 more A350-900s, 10 Boeing 787-9s and 11 A321neos.