Following a period of gritty political turmoil that finally ended towards the end of the 1980s, South Korea has moved on culturally and economically to become a key player on the international board game. Despite living in the shadow of the dictatorship of its Northern Counterpart, South Korea now enjoys a steady rate of tourism and international trade that are facilitated by the country’s two major airlines; Asiana Air, and Korean Air.

The larger of the two companies is Korean Air and it is also the flag carrier of South Korea. This status entitles the airline to preferential treatment and rulings by the country’s government to ensure that the company does not come under financial strain. The company is headquartered in the country’s capital city of Seoul, from where it organises the operation of both international and domestic passenger flights as well as cargo flights. The airlines main hub is located close by in Seoul at the Incheon International Airport. Furthermore, the airline also possesses a headquarters for satellite communication which is likewise located at a campus in Incheon.

The cargo and international passenger divisions provide services to forty-five countries across the globe at one hundred and thirty different destination cities. On the other hand, the airline serves twenty different destinations throughout South Korea that are operated by the company’s domestic division. In regards to the amount of passengers that the airline carries on a yearly basis, Korean Air is counted amongst the top twenty airlines in the entire world, as well as being consistently ranked as the top airline for international cargo services.

The company operates flights throughout Asia, as well as in Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Oceania. The company is therefore one of the few in the world that provides flights to every continent excluding the uninhabitable Antarctica. As well as direct flights to international destinations, the company offers connecting flights to major tourists destinations to other parts of Asia and further south to Oceania. The company enjoys a great deal of trade by transporting tourist passengers to South Korea before connecting them on flights to the ever popular backpacking destinations of Australia and New Zealand.

The airline manages to deal with the high volume of passenger traffic that it enjoys via the possession of an impressive air fleet that consists of larger aircraft including Airbuses and the larger scale Boeing models such as the 737 and the 747.