Ending Soon: The World’s Longest Passenger Boeing 747 Service

Korean Air has made many changes to its North American network recently. Notable developments include ending Airbus A380 flights to Los Angeles and New York JFK through the summer and—the subject of this article—ceasing to fly the Boeing 747-8i to Atlanta.

This is especially significant as it is the world’s longest nonstop scheduled 747-operated flight by distance, with Lufthansa’s Frankfurt-Buenos Aires service taking the crown. As always, things could change, but this article summarizes the situation as of December 20.

The world’s longest passenger 747 service

According to the US Department of Transportation T-100 data, SkyTeam’s Korean Air has served Atlanta on a passenger basis since 1994. Of course, this is because both it and Delta are SkyTeam members, so it connects two critical SkyTeam hubs.

In the past 30 years, Korean Air has used the 747-400, 747-8, 777-200ER, 777-300ER, 787-9, and A380 on the 6,215 nautical mile (11,510 km) link to the world’s busiest airport and Delta’s top hub.

Cirium Diio data shows that the 368-seat 747-8 first appeared on the route in April 2016. It operated until February 2017 and returned in May 2018. It was flown to Atlanta until March 2020 (when the world temporarily stopped) and reappeared in October 2022.

Image: Flightradar24

The 777-300ER will be used next summer

While the 747-8 has operated continuously since October 2022, it is time for it to be replaced again. On March 30, when northern airlines switch to summer schedules, Korean Air’s booking engine shows that the 291-seat Boeing 777-300ER will replace it. These have:

• Eight Kosmo Suites (1-2-1)
• 56 in Prestige Sleeper (2-3-2); refurbishment is coming
• 227 economy seats (3-3-3)

Photo: GVR | Flickr

Fewer economy seats, more premium

Switching to the Triple 7 means roundtrip seats for sale will fall by a fifth to 582 daily. Of course, this will help with even stronger loads, fares, and yields.

This will be especially so given the 777-300ER will have 28% fewer economy seats than the 747-8 and more premium seats in both classes. Indeed, first/business will now account for 22% of capacity, up by seven percentage points compared to when the Boeing quadjet operates.

Delta’s daily flights on the 275-seat A350

Delta has served Atlanta-Seoul double daily since May 2024, with all flights on the Airbus A350-900.

The airline’s standard 306-seat configuration was used until the end of October 2024, when one of the two daily take-offs switched to the lower-capacity, higher-premium 275-seat version on its 283-ton MTOW aircraft. The current plan from February 2025 is for both of Delta’s flights to be on the 275-seater.

Photo: Ron Rafferty | Flickr

In April 2025, both carriers plan to have 1,682 daily roundtrip seats between Atlanta and Seoul. However, the various equipment swaps for lower-capacity aircraft mean this does not surpass the 1,960 available daily for most of 2024 and early 2025.

Some 592 premium seats (Korean Air’s Kosmo Suites and Prestige Sleeper, along with Delta One, Premium Select, and Comfort+) will be available daily. This means 35% of the capacity will be in these classes. All the changes mean it is up from the previous high of just 22%.

Atlanta-Seoul: a high-yielding market

According to booking data for the 12 months to July 2024, all passengers in all cabins (regardless of whether they flew nonstop or connected en route) paid an average base fare of $1,457 one-way (excluding taxes, fuel surcharge, etc.). This reflects strong premium demand between the two cities and SkyTeam’s dominance on the route.

Source: Simple Flying