Korean Air wins Airbus A380 Top Operational Excellence award

KOREAN AIR has become the first airline in the world to receive the A380 Top Operational Excellence award at the Airbus Technical Symposium held in Dubai.

Previously, the carrier had clinched seven consecutive A330 Operational Excellence awards and six Operational Excellence awards for operating the A300-600.

The Airbus Technical Symposiums are held every two years for each aircraft type. The winners are determined by a thorough evaluation of the overall performance of the short listed airlines, including the operational reliability (aka on-time operation rate) and aircraft utilization.

The airline acquired its first A380 in June 2011 and was the first airline in Korea to operate the aircraft. The airline has recorded an impressive operational reliability of 99.5 per cent, which means that only 0.5 per cent of flights were delayed or cancelled compared to a global average of 1.9 per cent.

It has a total of 146 aircraft in its fleet, including five A380s and will take delivery of five more A380s, including one in December 2012 and the remaining four by 2014.