Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon) has signed a Letter of Intent with Boeing for twenty B777-9s and twenty incremental B787-10s, with a further ten options for the latter.

The manufacturer said the prospective order would "enhance [Korean Air's] fleet while adding flexibility to its global network ahead of its anticipated merger with Asiana Airlines".

Korean Air expects B777-9s to start arriving in 2028. Chairman and CEO Walter Cho said he had "complete confidence" in Boeing, even though the new widebody type has yet to be certified and has been plagued by production and certification delays. Boeing still hopes for the type's service entry by the end of 2025.

The airline told ch-aviation the delivery timeline of the incremental B787-10s was yet to be confirmed.

The new agreement was announced at the 2024 Farnborough Air Show just a few days after Korean took delivery of its first of twenty B787-10s ordered in 2019. HL8515 (msn 66878), on lease from Air Lease Corporation, was ferried from Charleston International to Seoul Incheon on July 19, 2024. Korean Air's B787-10 is configured with a total of 325 seats, including 36 Premium seats and 289 Economy Class seats. The ch-aviation schedules module shows the airline plans to debut it in commercial service on July 25 on the Seoul Incheon-Tokyo Narita route.

The new order is incremental to the previously ordered twenty B787-10s. The 2019 deal comprised a mix of ten units on direct order from Boeing and ten from ALC. Korean Air plans to operate a total of twenty B787-10 aircraft by 2027.

The ch-aviation fleets module shows that Korean Air's widebody passenger fleet currently comprises four A330-200s, twenty-one A330-300s, nine A380-800s, eight B777-200ERs, four B777-300s, twenty-five B777-300(ER)s, and thirteen B787-9s. It has seven more B787-9s on order from the 2019 contract. The airline also has an order for six A350-900s and twenty-seven A350-1000s with deliveries scheduled between 2024 and 2032.