More on maintenance from the "Korea Times," January 28,2000:

KAL Improving Jet Maintenance Abroad After Crash in Britain

South Korean aviation authorities have called on Korean Air to improve its overseas plane maintenance after a Korean Air cargo jet crashed in Britain late last year.

The accident-plagued airline has been expected to trim plane maintenance by its own
ground crews abroad. Instead, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation
recommended that Korean Air station more maintenance workers abroad and entrust
more maintenance work to foreign companies.

``Korean Air is implementing measures we recommended,'' a ranking ministry official
said.

Korean Air said it would slash the number of foreign airports where maintenance is
undertaken by its accompanying workers to seven from the current 23. The country's
oldest carrier will increase the number of foreign airports where Korean Air ground
crews are stationed to 43 from the present 34.

Simultaneously, foreign companies will be in charge of doing maintenance work on Korean Air jets at 12 foreign airports including Frankfurt Airport.

The recommendation came amid public accusations that Korean Air's maintenance on
planes in operation abroad was poor, following the cargo plane crash in Britain.

The plane went down minutes after takeoff from Stansted Airport near London on its way to Milan, Italy, with 64 tons of cargo. All four crew members were killed. It was the latest in a series of disasters that has plagued the airline over the last 17 years,
killing more than 750 people.

Immediately after the Stansted crash, the South Korean government increased its
punishment of Korean Air under a revised aviation act, citing possible safety problems.

The government extended by another six months _ until May 2001 _ a ban on the carrier opening new international routes and flights.

Earlier, the government banned Korean Air from adding new international routes and
flights for one year after U.S. investigators held its pilots largely responsible for a 1997 crash in Guam that killed 228 people. The new punishment extended the sanction
period, which would have expired in November 2000 by six months.

The Stansted crash dealt a serious blow to Korean Air's efforts to rebuild its business
alliance with foreign carriers. Delta Airlines, Air France and Air Canada cut off their code-sharing agreements with Korean Air last year after one of its cargo jets crashed
in China.