A little while I published a post on how an all-new livery was spotted on a Korean Air Boeing 787, before it was officially announced by the company’s CEO at a press event. I also mentioned in that post new branding, but there was additional information that was released that I hadn’t covered. Here I’m now posting a comprehensive synthesis on what we know about how Korean Air is planning to change in the future.

1. Some context: Korean Air acquired Asiana, its domestic competitor
2. Korean Air’s new livery
3. Select 777 aircraft will get premium economy
4. Already flying: new business class Prestige Suites 2.0
5. First class will see a big makeover
6. Lounges will be overhauled, improved
7. Summary

Some context: Korean Air acquired Asiana, its domestic competitor

Korea has, for a long time now, had two large, full-service airlines: Korean Air and Asiana. Following a drawn-out process involving government approvals from various parts of the world and the pandemic, that era will be coming to and end: Korean Air has formally acquired Asiana with the purchase of a 63.88% stake in Asiana. It is this milestone that is precipitating the changes that we are currently seeing at Korean Air.

The merger of two airlines is a big undertaking for any airlines. In many cases you’ll see that the acquiring airline ends up entirely rebranding the acquired airline in its own brand, such as Alaska Airlines has done with Virgin America, or Delta has done with Northwest Airlines. However, in some cases the two airlines merge their branding, such as happened with Continental and United Airlines: the merged airline inherited the name of United Airlines, and the logo (the globe) of Continental Airlines.

Korean Air is going in a bit of a different direction here. What we’re seeing is Korean Air ultimately eliminating the Asiana branding, while re-inventing its own branding at the same time. The result is that the merged airlines will not look like either Korean Air or Asiana, with the ‘Korean Air’ name and stylized version of the Taegeuk symbol being the only vestige of the old branding.

Korean Air’s new livery

This was what I originally reported about: Korean Air’s new livery. Initially spotted ‘in the wild’ on a lone Boeing 787, flying from Busan to Seoul in the new livery, a few days later that plane was used to officially present the livery to the world during a special event. The livery maintains some similarity to the current livery in that it’s blue, has the airline’s name on the front, and has the signature Taegeuk on the tail. That said, the Korean is a different shade from the lightblue used currently, with a subtle flare in the barder to the white belly. Further, the new branding of the airline’s name and logo is also represented, though now only ‘Korean’ air is written on the front in a much larger font. Finally, the new, stylized Taegeuk is on the tail rather than the fulkl blue-red-white that more clsoel;y resembles the symbol from the Korean flag.

When I wrote about this. before I already commented on it: I think it’s indeed a more modern loo, but also kind of boring. Just one shade of color with lettering and a symbol in another hade of blue is sort of a generic and forgettable livery. Besides, it’s in some ways rather simial to airlines such as KLM and TUI. Honestly, I probably would have preferred an updated version of the current livery rather than this redo… But, let’s see. Perhaps it will grow on me with time. I do like the shiny effect that was applied to the fuselage.

Select 777 aircraft will get premium economy

Here is another piece of news that recently came out, that I was very pleased to hear about: Korean Air will be introducing premium economy on select Boeing 777 aircraft. Korean is currently one of few (the only?) Asian carriers that does not have premium economy. Yet, it turns out to be a rather popular cabin with passengers, as it allows passengers to upgrade their experience to receive more comfort: a better seat that is wider and has more legroom, a basic amenity kit, and with some airlines also an elevated meal service. Post-Covid we’ve seen a surge in premium travel demand, and airlines can capitalize on this by offering more premium seating. For the airlines, premium economy is also one of the highest yield cabins, providing a better revenue per seat.

Here’s what Korean Air has to say about this:

Korean Air will also introduce Premium Economy seating in response to growing market demand. The airline will retrofit 11 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, removing First Class cabins to install Premium Economy cabins.

The first retrofitted aircraft will enter service in the second half of 2025 with a three-class configuration: Prestige (Business), Premium Economy and Economy. Fleet modifications will continue through 2026 to expand Premium Economy availability across more routes.

There’s two important numbers here: first, premium economy will be introduced on 11 777-300ER aircraft. Note that Korean Air has 30 of these aircraft, meaning that premium economy will only make it onto 36% of the 777-300ER fleet. To me that is a little disappointing. it’s possible that this is just the first stage and more will follow later. However, I’ve also heard that Delta Airlines, which holds a stake in Korean Air and has a very tight trans-Pacific joint venture with Korean Air, may have pushed Korean to introduce premium economy to match its own product offerings.

The second thing of note: Apparently the first aircraft will enter into serve in the second half of 2025, so this is not far off! Although it will take until the end of 2026 for Korean to complete its aircraft modifications.

I do find this exciting, despite the rather limited rollout of premium economy, and I’m curious to see what sort of hard and soft product Korean may ultimately introduce.

Already flying: new business class Prestige Suites 2.0

This is a development from a little while ago, but I think it’s worthwhile mentioning. Korean Air’s business class (marketed as ‘Prestige’) seat situation is unfortunately somewhat poor, with different aircraft having different business class hard products that range from uncompetitive to fine. This is not commenting on the service since I’ve never flown them, and so I wouldn’t really be able to say how good their service is.

On the Boeing 747, Boeing 787, some Airbus A330s and some Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, you can expect the Apex Suites that I have also reviewed on Japan Airlines’ Boeing 787. In my experience this is a perfectly fine seat. It’s main benefit is that you have the entire forward space to stretch into when lying flat: there is no footwell that your feet disappear into, so it feels like fairly spacious seat in a longitudinal sense. The downside is that the seats are in a 2-2-2 configuration, so the seat can feel a little cramped and there is little storage to the sides of the seat to put laptop, wallet, etc.

Then there are select Boeing 777-300ER, all Airbus A380 and several A330s that have an older style business class seat, see below. This one is unfortunately quite uncompetitive these days. This one is still lie-flat, but is also in a 2-2-2 configuration and afford a lot less privacy because the seats are right next to each other without too much of a partition. The Apex Suites at least has a full (optional) partition between seats, plus with Apex Suites all passengers have direct aisle access thanks to the little corridor that run around the aisle seat. This way a passenger seated at the window can still get out comfortably. With the below that is not the case.

There is one more ‘current-gen’ business class seat that Korean uses, and that is found exclusively on the A350: these ones seem to be coming on new A350 that may have been originally ordered by Asiana before the merger, and now post-merger are being delivered with a business class seat featuring Korean Air’s new brnading, but with the interior picked by Asiana:

These seats looks rather nice, actually, compared to the other options, and seem to be a more traditional staggered seat. They are full-flat, have a good amount of storage and more modern amenities including a larger, higher definition screen.

This multi-seat situation is now slowly supposed to change. Importantly, Korean Air recently introduced a new business class eat that is currently flying on select routes, and is supposoed to be ‘Prestige Suites 2.0’, see below.

This appears to be the ‘Colins Horizon’ seat with branding modifications, and is definitely a big upgrade to Korean’s previous seats, as well as the Korean Air-afied Asiana seat on the A350. It features modern amenities including wireless charging, a high-definition entertainment screen, and a doos. Plus, it fully features the updated branding, with various shades of brown. Now, my understanding is that this seat hasn’t bene installed on too manys eats yet, and if I would hazar a guess, I’m not sure that the planes previously ordered by Asian would get this seat given that the A350 also didn’t get it. Also, older planes, such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 777-300ERs may not be upgraded either, since Korean Air just put in massive ordered for Boeing 787 and the new (but still not commercially operated) Boeing 777-9.

So, while this is truly a big upgrade to korean’s business class offering, it’s anybody’s guess how long it will take for this seat to become the standard. And even then, I certainly think that a lot of the planes currently in Asiana’s fleet may never see this seat at all…

First class will see a big makeover

Another class that will see updates is first class. Unfortunately Korean’s first class product is not particularly competitive, and as such it will be overhauled. At this point there is no announcement as to what sort of hard product e may expect from Korean. Obviously there have been some excellent new first class products introduced at various airlines, including Japan Airlines and Air France, so Korean has a lot to catch up to. Although this is undoubtedly the most exciting thing to hear about, we will need to wait.

On the other hand, there are some things concerning the soft product that appear to already have been rolled out on select routes. To sum up from Korean Air’s press release:

• First-class passengers will dine on Bernardaud china with Christofle cutlery and Riedel glassware, while Prestige class will feature Armani/Casa dishware and glassware.
• First-class bedding will feature premium materials from Italian luxury brand Frette, accompanied by an innovative Air Coil mattress from Eco World.
• First-class passengers will also receive Frette loungewear for a more relaxing onboard experience.
• Premium-class amenity kits, created in exclusive collaboration with British luxury brand Graff, consist of elegant pouches containing skincare products including perfume.

Excitingly, the elevated inflight dining has been rolled out on select long haul routes since March 12th, and by June all these upgrades should have been rolled out across most (all?) long haul routes. kudos to Korean Air for the swift rollout!

Lounges will be overhauled, improved

Korean Air has several lounges, as any global airline, at both its hub and at outstations. Unfortunately, I’ve often heard that these lounges are really ‘just fine’ and not something to be all that excited about. While there are comfortable, plenty seats, there are not much in terms of special amenities, and the food is not too exciting either. I suppose this is one of those things where people see an Asian airline and just assume the best, given precedent: Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, ANA, Singapore Airlines… There are so many top-notch airlines that it honestly becomes difficult to stay on top. Now, if anybody were to compare Korean with the average US or European airline, Korean may win with flying colors, though, so it’s all about what you compare it to.

However, it seems as though things are going to change. Korean Air has announced it will be overhauling its lounges. Specifically:

• New Prestige Class Garden Lounges (whatever that means) will be built in the east and west wings of Seoul Incheon’s Terminal 2, to coincide with the expansion of this airport.
• The existing Prestige Class lounge in the east wing of Terminal 2 will double in size, will the Miler Club Lounge and west wing Prestige Class Lounge will be renovated.

So, in total there will be 4 ‘Prestige Class’ (Business Class) lounges at Incheon Terminal 2, which reportedly wil be opened in phases as of August 2025 (renovated west wing prestige class lounge to re-open by April 2026). The fact that this is already relatively soon is exciting!

In terms of the first class lounge, this lounge will reportedly be renovated and re-opened in April 2026. It’s not clear whether there will be a replacement space for first class passengers until then, or whether passengers will have to go to the Prestige Class Lounge instead.

So what can we expect? Here’s what Korean had to say about it:

Food and beverage services will be significantly enhanced with live kitchens offering fresh, diverse cuisine. Bartenders and baristas will prepare cocktails, wines, and beverages on-site. Dedicated bakeries and patisseries will serve croissants, pizzas, and desserts, while a signature noodle bar will offer freshly prepared dishes.

This sounds mighty fine, and as though it plans to become a true competitor in the lounge game to airlines such as Cathay Pacific, which already offer various lvie bars and restaurants across its different lounges.

Korean Air finally also revealed that it will be renovating some of its outstaiuon lounge sin line with what it’s doing at its home base:

The lounges at Los Angeles (LAX) and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) will undergo complete redesigns, incorporating city-themed atmospheres.

Although we won’t know just to what extent we can expect features and amenities from the Seoul lounges to make it to LAX and JFK, I’m very pleased to hear that these will be renovated.

All in all these are exciting announcements, and I’m looking forward to see what Korean will ultimately offer.

Summary

Korean Air recently announced a whole set of changes and upgrades, covering new branding and aircraft liveries, renovated and expanded lounges and upgrades to its soft product, as well as the introduction of a whole new class of service on select planes: premium economy. Overall, I find this set of announcement very exciting. I’ve been wanting to fly Korean for quite a while but was admittedly turned off by reviews that generally framed Korean Air as a bit of a ‘second class’ Asian airline, behind the likes of Japan Airlines, Cathay or Singapore Airlines. With these changes, it seems Korean is trying to right the ship, right as it starts its formal merger with Asian Airlines, to emerge a larger, overall more competitive airline.