Korean Air, the national airline of South Korea, has reintroduced its Boeing 747-8i fleet onto the carrier’s nonstop route from Seoul to Atlanta in the US, making it the longest route flown by a passenger-configured Boeing 747 by distance. The reintroduction of the type onto this particular route for the summer of 2025 sees the airline steal the crown for this accolade from German carrier Lufthansa, which was the holder until April 25, 2025, when the Seoul-based carrier brought its jumbos back to Atlanta.
The route between Seoul-Incheon International Airport (ICN) and Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport (ATL) comes in at 7,172 miles (11,443km), overtaking Lufthansa’s direct 747-8i flights from Frankfurt to Buenos Aires in Argentina, which covers just under that at 7,133 miles (11,412km) – a difference of just 39 miles (62km)!
The first flight of Korean Air’s 747-8i with flight number KE35 departed from Incheon Airport at 10:26 on April 25, 2025, and at the time of writing is estimated to arrive in Atlantia at 10:06 local time. The flight is being operated by 747- 8i HL7637, which is 8.9 years old according to ch-aviation. The type is being used to accommodate the additional traffic expected on the route during the peak 2025 summer season and takes over duties from the carrier’ Boeing 777-300ER fleet.
According to Simple Flying, the larger Boeing type offers a capacity of 368 passengers, an increase of 33% over the smaller 777-300ER, which accommodates 291 passengers in Korean Air’s configuration. The 747-8i’s three-class configuration consists of six first-class seats, 48 in business class, and 314 in economy class, meaning that the economy class capacity on the route increases from 82% on the 777 to 87% on the 747.
The direct flights between the two cities will continue to operate twice weekly until early May 2025, when the service will increase in frequency to a daily service until the end of summer 2025. From September 1, 2025, the flights will once more revert to the smaller 777-300ER. For the northern summer of 2025, the eastbound flights will leave Seoul-Incheon at 09:15 and are scheduled to arrive in Atlanta at 10:15 the same day. The return flights back to Seoul leave Atlanta at 12:30, landing back in Seoul at 16:50 the following day.
The flights into Atlanta are timed to allow for convenient connections onto Delta’s huge domestic and international network of flights from Atlanta, its largest operational hub and the busiest airport in the US, serving over 108 million passengers in 2024. Both carriers are leading members of the SkyTeam international airline alliance and collaborate on several levels.
For the record, the third-longest air route still served by regular Boeing 747 passenger operations is that flown by Air China from Beijing-Capital Airport (PEK) to Washington-Dulles Airport, which has a stage length of 6,738 miles (10,780km). Korean Air, Lufthansa, and Air China are the last three remaining scheduled operators of passenger-carrying Boeing 747-8s, with six, 19, and seven active airframes, respectively.
In addition to Atlanta, London-Heathrow Airport (LHR) will also see the blue 747-8s of Korean Air in the summer of 2025, when the type also replaces the carrier’s Boeing 777-300ER on the Seoul to London route. The change will take effect from July 25, 2025, until October 24, 2025, when the IATA winter scheduling season takes over and the smaller Boeing type returns to the route.
The 747-8i’s future with Korean Air remains uncertain, as more economical Airbus 350s take over many of the carrier’s key international routes, rendering the fuel-thirsty four-engine behemoth economically unviable to operate.
