The article describes accidents and incidents on Korean Air and its predecessor companies Korean National Airlines and Korean Air Lines.
In the late 1990s, Korean Air was known for being "an industry pariah, notorious for fatal crashes" due to its extremely poor safety record as one of the world's most dangerous airlines.[1][2][3][4] In 1999, Korea's President Kim Dae-jung described the airline's safety record as "an embarrassment to the nation" and chose Korean Air's smaller rival, Asiana, for a flight to the United States.[5]
Between 1970 and 1999, several fatal incidents occurred. Since 1970, 17 Korean Air aircraft have been written off in serious incidents and accidents with the loss of 700 lives. Two Korean Air aircraft were shot down by the Soviet Union, one operating as Korean Air Lines Flight 902 and the other as Korean Air Lines Flight 007. Korean Air's deadliest incident was Flight 007 which was shot down by the Soviet Union on September 1, 1983. All 269 people on board were killed, including a sitting U.S. Congressman, Larry McDonald. The last fatal passenger accident was the Korean Air Flight 801 crash in 1997, which killed 229 people. The last crew fatalities were in the crash of Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509 in December 1999.[6]
Safety has seemingly improved since as the airline made concerted efforts to improve standards which included bringing in outside consultants from Boeing and Delta Air Lines.[7][8] In 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration upgraded Korea's air-safety rating while Korean Air passed an International Air Transport Association audit in 2005.[9] After the Flight 8509 accident, it would be 23 years until another Korean Air aircraft would be written off; Korean Air Flight 631 overshot the runway at Mactan–Cebu International Airport in October 2022.[10][11]
Several academics interviewed by CNBC shared the belief that the hierarchical, linear nature of Korean social interactions could be a contributor to the airline's safety issues.[12]
^Kirk, Don (26 March 2002). "New Standards Mean Korean Air Is Coming Off Many 'Shun' Lists". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
^Stanley, Bruce (9 January 2006). "Korean Air Bucks Tradition To Fix Problems". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^See Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers (2008), pp. 177–223 for a discussion of this turnaround in airline safety. Gladwell notes (p. 180) that the hull-loss rate for the airline was 4.79 per million departures, a full 17 times greater than United Airlines which at the same time had a loss rate of just 0.27 per million departures.
^Stanley, Bruce (9 January 2006). "Korean Air Bucks Tradition To Fix Problems". The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
^Carley, William M.; Pasztor, Andy (7 July 1999). "Korean Air Tries to Fix A Dismal Safety Record". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^Kirk, Don (26 March 2002). "New Standards Mean Korean Air Is Coming Off Many 'Shun' Lists". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 14 January 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
^Kirk, Don (26 March 2002). "New Standards Mean Korean Air Is Coming Off Many 'Shun' Lists". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^"Korean Air plane carrying 173 people overshoots the runway in near disaster". New York Post. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022 – via Reuters.
^Stanley, Bruce (9 January 2006). "Korean Air Bucks Tradition To Fix Problems". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^"Korean Air says jet overran runway in Philippines, no injuries reported". Reuters. 23 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^Thomas, Geoffrey (23 October 2022). "Korean Air A330 overruns runway at Cebu". Airline Ratings. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^Wee, Heesun (9 July 2013). "Korean culture may offer clues in Asiana crash". www.cnbc.com. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
and 26 Related for: Korean Air incidents and accidents information
describes accidentsandincidents on KoreanAirand its predecessor companies Korean National Airlines andKoreanAir Lines. In the late 1990s, KoreanAir was...
North Korea, and some nearby countries use metres. China portal South Korea portal Aviation portal 1990s portal KoreanAirincidentsandaccidents National...
and 1999, many fatal incidents occurred. Since 1970, 17 KoreanAir aircraft have been written off in serious incidentsandaccidents with the loss of 700...
nuclear accidentsandincidents from the use of nuclear power. Fifty-seven accidents or severe incidents have occurred since the Chernobyl disaster, and about...
aircraft accidentsandincidents resulting in at least 50 fatalities List of accidentsandincidents involving airliners by location List of accidentsand incidents...
United Kingdom's AirAccidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) issued recommendations to KoreanAir to revise its training program and company culture, to...
This list of accidentsandincidents involving commercial aircraft includes notable events that have a corresponding Wikipedia article. Entries in this...
1993; Korean Airincidentsandaccidents, a list of various incidentsandaccidents over the past several decades involving KoreanAir Lines Co. aircraft;...
KoreanAir Lines Flight 902 (KAL 902) was a scheduled KoreanAir Lines flight from Paris to Seoul via Anchorage. On 20 April 1978, the Soviet air defense...
The nut rage incident, colloquially referred to as "nutgate" (Korean: 땅콩 회항, Ttangkong hoehang), was an air rage incident that occurred on December 5,...
aviation accidentsandincidents that involved ten or more onboard. Within this list, "sole survivor" refers to a person who survived an airaccident in which...
that have been involved in a ground or mid-air collision. As of 28 April 2024, 206 accidentsandincidents have resulted in at least 100 fatalities, 34...
KoreanAir Flight 801 (KE801, KAL801) was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by KoreanAir, from Gimpo International Airport, Seoul to...
of accidentsandincidents involving military aircraft include all types of accidentandincident, including mechanical failures, pilot error and military...
KoreanAir Flight 858 was a scheduled international passenger flight between Baghdad, Iraq, and Seoul, South Korea. On 29 November 1987, the aircraft flying...
This article is a list of accidentsandincidents involving helicopters and which are notable enough to have an article on Wikipedia. It is grouped by...
This article lists Japan Airlines incidentsandaccidents. (Bold dates - onboard fatalities) On 9 April 1952, Mokusei, Flight 301, a Martin 2-0-2 (N90943)...
not include fatalities due to accidentsandincidents solely involving private aircraft or military aircraft. All incidents involving commercial aircraft...
This is a list of air rage incidents in commercial air travel that have been covered in the media. Air rage occurs when airline personnel or passengers...
Global Information