KE aircrafts refurbishing and delivery plan

bobbybrown · Apr 13, 09, 2:48 pm

Refurbishing status

Nomenclature:
First class (F/P/R are booking class)
Old F: around 150 degree recline
Sleeper P: previously called morning calm class. 180 degree
Kosmo sleeper P: 180 degree
Kosmo suite R: wider, 180 degree
Sleeper#2 F: 180 degree but narrower than other P/R seats

Prestige class
Old C: around 140 degree recline
Prestige+ C: 170 degree
Prestige sleeper J: 180 degree

Economy class
New Y: slim seat and a few more features. Old Y is also good

AVOD: installed on all classes, for both refurbishing and factory-install cases. Some of no-AVOD aircrafts have PTV for FC class only

POWER: in-seat power ports available on all classes

747: out of 20 planes,
6: Kosmo sleeper P, Prestige+ C, AVOD, POWER (seatguru ver.3)
11: Sleeper P, Prestige+ C, AVOD, POWER (seatguru ver.2)
2: Old F/C, no AVOD. To be converted to cargo (seatguru ver.1)
1 combi: Old F/C, no AVOD. To be converted to cargo

772: out of 18,
5: Kosmo suite R, Prestige sleeper J, New Y, AVOD, POWER (seatguru ver.3)
9: Kosmo P, Prestige+ C, AVOD, POWER (seatguru ver.2)
4: Old F/C, no AVOD, some has POWER (seatguru ver.1), to be refurbished

77W: all 3 of them: Kosmo suite R, Prestige sleeper J, New Y, AVOD, POWER (seatguru ver.2)

773 non-ER: out of 4,
3: Old F/C, no AVOD, some has POWER (seatguru ver.1), to be refurbished
1: Sleeper#2 F, Prestige+ C, New Y, AVOD, POWER

332: all 3: Old F/C, no AVOD, some has POWER

333: all 16: Old F/C, no AVOD, some has POWER

Refurbishing schedule released at Apr 2009
2009: 3 772 (mission accomplished)
2010: 6 772, 4 773, 3 332, 9 333
2011: 7 333

Delivery schedule released at Apr 2009
2009: 3 77W (mission accomplished)
2010: 3 77W, 1 380, 2 332 (380 possibly delayed: http://plane.spottingworld.com/A380_production_list)
2011: 3 77W, 4 380, 2 787, 2 332
2012-14: 3 77W, 5 380, 8 787, 2 332

772 upgrading status (from seatguru ver.1 to ver.3)
Dates indicate when this aircraft is out of schedule for refurbishing work.
HL7530 Done. 9/01/09-9/30/09
HL7531 Done. 11/02/09-11/25/09
HL7526 Done. 11/27/09-12/20/09
HL7598 Done. 12/20/09-1/11/10
HL7721 Done. 1/11/10-2/1/10
HL7574 3/2/10-
HL7575 HL7714 HL7715 planned on Mar-May 2010

773 upgrading status
HL7573 Done. 2/2/10-3/2/10
HL7532 HL7533 HL7534 planned on May-Aug 2010

332/333: too hard to track at this moment, but will start very soon.
Refurbished 333 appears firstly on MNL night flight and HKG 2nd daytime flight from May 24th, at this point.
Refurbished 332 is on many flights from late July.

The most important question:
How to figure out which configuration is on my flight?
1. koreanair.com -> On Board -> Flight schedule with new aircraft (only shows this month data while we usually book international flights 3 months ahead)
2. koreanair.com -> On Board -> Entertainment, click "View program" at the bottom and it shows if your flight has AVOD. "Sky program 1" is at 747 ver.2 & 3 and 772 ver.2 while "Sky program 2" is for 77W, 772 ver.3.
3. expedia.com, do dummy booking for your exact flight and check out seatmap, and compare with seatguru. delta.com gives similar information for US flights.

thekidisback · Apr 13, 09, 6:05 pm

i posted this already in a thread i started but...

you think these are the new Y seats? this is on a refurbished 777-200ER LAX to GRU

kahuna613 · Apr 14, 09, 11:36 am

Does anyone know which configuration 747 is being used for NRT-ICN currently? I'm flying it this summer and was wondering....

bobbybrown · Apr 14, 09, 1:13 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by thekidisback

you think these are the new Y seats? this is on a refurbished 777-200ER LAX to GRU

I don't have lots info about Y class for now. All I know is KE has some room to improvement Y seat, in terms of comfort.

Quote:

Does anyone know which configuration 747 is being used for NRT-ICN currently? I'm flying it this summer and was wondering....

Hi. You can pull up seatmap at expedia.com, and compare to seatguru to figure out which configuration will be used, although it might be changed. At this point, app. 1/3 of NRT is old config, while 2/3 chance to have new one. On summer, if economy gets better, so KE utilizes aircraft to maximum, then more chance to confront old config on short hauls.

kahuna613 · Apr 14, 09, 1:25 pm

Well I have a seat on the upperdeck, which is still 2-2, so I guess I meant which types of seats rather than the configuration. It matches up with version 1 on seatguru, but is there any way to tell if the seats will have been updated by that pt? Does version 1 refer only to the remaining three that haven't been updated?

pnai · Apr 14, 09, 5:49 pm

i wonder whats taking so long for korean air to refurbish all their planes. my guess is that they're waiting until they officially launch the new products for all three classes with the launch of the 777-300ER...then they'll add it on A380 and newer aircrafts...then eventually on the older aircrafts.

bobbybrown · Apr 14, 09, 6:03 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by kahuna613

Well I have a seat on the upperdeck, which is still 2-2, so I guess I meant which types of seats rather than the configuration. It matches up with version 1 on seatguru, but is there any way to tell if the seats will have been updated by that pt? Does version 1 refer only to the remaining three that haven't been updated?

If it matches version 1, that is old configuration, the remaining three. This version carries 40 more passengers than refurbished one, and NRT-ICN route is extremely busy right now, so version 1 makes sense. But KE swaps aircrafts a lot for short or medium hauls depend on booking situation or many other reasons.

Quote:

i wonder whats taking so long for korean air to refurbish all their planes.

Yeah. It took for a while to choose which type of seat to fit for next set of refurbishing work or maybe AVOD product. It seems that personal TV and equipment box become cheaper, lighter, and smaller year by year. Now they confirmed most things, and I'm glad to hear that finally next year will be a huge turning point.

Finite Elephant · Apr 16, 09, 10:13 am

Anybody know what the equipment lineup will be for this fall? I'm flying ORD-ICN-ORD in October and was wondering what aircraft to expect. Last year was 777-200ER, but last weekend I saw a 747 landing at ORD. Seemed odd to me, as I thought they only ran the 747 during peak season. Thanks in advance.

thekidisback · Apr 16, 09, 3:11 pm

korean air needs to refurbish their seat colors in economy. maybe something that matches more with the exterior color and flight attendant uniforms. the blue and mocha don't look good together. so random

uavking · Apr 18, 09, 7:44 pm

Any insight on which routes might be getting refurb a/c and how early in 2010 the A333's might get hit? (**cough, cough** DPS-ICN in Feb.)

bobbybrown · Nov 28, 09, 12:15 pm

Little bit update: out of 3 planned 772ER conversion to "version 3" 777, or 77S, two are finished.

772 upgrading status (from seatguru ver.1 to ver.3)
Will be finished by May 2010
HL7530 Done. Upgrading work is done between 9/01/09-9/30/09
HL7531 Done. 11/02/09-11/25/09
HL7526 Possibly on-going. 11/27/09-
(followings are in just numeric order)
HL7574 HL7575 HL7598 HL7714 HL7715 HL7721

773 upgrading status
1 will finish upgrading on late Feb 2010, others are planned at May-Aug 2010.
HL7532 HL7533 HL7534 HL7573

332/333: too hard to track at this moment

More and more 772 ver.3 comes into the schedule at mid-Dec (2009), early-Jan, late-Jan, mid-Mar, early-Apr, late-Apr, and sometime in May (all 2010). February 2010 will be dedicated to one 773 upgrading work. Also 3 more 773 will be upgraded between late-May and late-July (or early-Aug) 2010. In the meantime, I see 332 and 333 newer version appears from May/June 2010, but not sure about this for now.

spkg · Dec 1, 09, 1:49 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbybrown

Little bit update: out of 3 planned 772ER conversion to "version 3" 777, or 77S, two are finished.

772 upgrading status (from seatguru ver.1 to ver.3)
Will be finished by May 2010
HL7530 Done. Upgrading work is done between 9/01/09-9/30/09
HL7531 Done. 11/02/09-11/25/09
HL7526 Possibly on-going. 11/27/09-
(followings are in just numeric order)
HL7574 HL7575 HL7598 HL7714 HL7715 HL7721

773 upgrading status
1 will finish upgrading on late Feb 2010, others are planned at May-Aug 2010.
HL7532 HL7533 HL7534 HL7573

332/333: too hard to track at this moment

More and more 772 ver.3 comes into the schedule at mid-Dec (2009), early-Jan, late-Jan, mid-Mar, early-Apr, late-Apr, and sometime in May (all 2010). February 2010 will be dedicated to one 773 upgrading work. Also 3 more 773 will be upgraded between late-May and late-July (or early-Aug) 2010. In the meantime, I see 332 and 333 newer version appears from May/June 2010, but not sure about this for now.

Thanks, is there a way to tell which routes those new planes will be put on?

bobbybrown · Dec 1, 09, 7:03 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by spkg

Thanks, is there a way to tell which routes those new planes will be put on?

List of flights with AVOD/ new seats/ ISPS (as of Mar 31st, 2007) (merged)

Well, link above tells some, and KE website also lists out. Or expedia can tell us a lot. Basically super-new 772ER version goes to IAD/SEA, and then LAX(KE001/002), DXB, YYZ, SVO, SYD order. And all the other 772 routes will be run by the previous new 772 configuration.

spkg · Dec 13, 09, 1:53 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbybrown

List of flights with AVOD/ new seats/ ISPS (as of Mar 31st, 2007) (merged)

Well, link above tells some, and KE website also lists out. Or expedia can tell us a lot. Basically super-new 772ER version goes to IAD/SEA, and then LAX(KE001/002), DXB, YYZ, SVO, SYD order. And all the other 772 routes will be run by the previous new 772 configuration.

Thanks for all your hard work, how exactly do you find info about the plane on expedia? I'm flying YYZ-ICN in mid Feb, and i want to know if my plane will be "super-new", but expedia doesn't really show anything.

edit: never mind, i found an explanation you wrote on another thread, and the seat maps seem to show the YYZ route won't be super-new until late march

Dosen't make sense to me, YYZ is one of their longest routes, wouldn't they want to put the best seats on the longest routes?

MegatopLover · Dec 14, 09, 6:18 am

Length of flights may matter most to pax, but profits matter most to the airlines. I would expect KE to put the "best" seats on its most profitable routes, subject to adjustments for operational efficiencies. I think YYZ is a fairly new route, so it might be less profitable than more established routes to other major business centers with big Korean populations, such as LAX and JFK.