Korean Air took delivery of its first A380 from the Airbus headquarters in Toulouse in May 2011.
The following month, the South Korean national carrier put the aircraft into service on short-haul routes from Seoul to Tokyo and Hong Kong.
It currently has six A380s and is due to receive another two later this year - one in July and the other in October - and two more in 2014, taking its superjumbo fleet to ten in total.
KE uses the A380 on its double-daily service to New York, on 12 out of 17 services per week to Los Angeles, and on its daily flight to Frankfurt.
From August, the superjumbo is scheduled for deployment on the Seoul to Atlanta route on three of the airline's seven weekly flights to the destination.
The carrier currently has no plans on introducing the A380 on a London route.
Korean Air was the first airline to dedicate the entire upper deck of the superjumbo to business class, with 94 Prestige fully flat sleeper seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. (Singapore Airlines subsequently followed suit).
The upper deck of the Korean Air A380 features a bar and lounge area for business and first class passengers, with smart blue and white seating, a flatscreen TV and bar area.
The lower deck features 12 first class and 301 economy seats, in a 3-4-3 configuration, making a total of 407 on board the aircraft, the lowest number of seats for any A380 operator so far.
KE's A380s also offer an inflight Duty Free "showcase" at the back of the lower deck, occupying a space equivalent to 13 economy seats.
It's not the first time that an A380 operator has opted to use some of its precious onboard space for something other than seating – Emirates has showers in its first class cabins, Qantas has a lounge area for its premium passengers located at the front of the upper deck, and Air France has a digital gallery also at the front of the upper deck.
To read a Tried and Tested review of a flight on a Korean Air A380-800 in Prestige business class, click here.
For more information, visit koreanair.com.
Graham Smith
