BOEING has finalized an order for 103 Boeing aircraft with Korean Air worth $36.2 billion at list prices, including wide-body passenger jets, freighters and single-aisle planes, the airline and the US planemaker said on Wednesday, completing a deal first announced in 2025.
The order includes 20 777-9s, 25 787-10s, 50 737-10s, and eight 777-8 Freighters.
Of the aircraft in the order, only the 787 is currently certified for commercial service, while Boeing is still developing the 777-8 Freighter.
Aviation advisory and intelligence firm IBA estimated the aircraft order is worth about $12.6 billion at current market prices after discounts.
Korean Air said the broader package is valued at $44.8 billion, and also includes an $8.6 billion deal for the purchase of 21 spare engines from GE Aerospace and CFM International and a 15-year engine maintenance agreement covering 28 aircraft.
Korean Air said the investment would support long-term fleet expansion following its integration of Asiana Airlines and help improve fuel efficiency as it transitions to newer aircraft models.
The plan, which is the largest in Korean Air's history, was first unveiled during South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's visit to Washington last year.
Korean Air CEO Cho Won-tae previously said that the newer aircraft would help Korean Air expand to more destinations in the United States and Latin America, and that about 80 percent of the jets would replace existing aircraft in the carrier's fleet.
Cho on Wednesday described the completion of the agreements as a significant milestone and said the investment underscored ties between the United States and South Korea, while Boeing said the deal was a result of bilateral trade discussions.
Salvaging Turkish Airlines order
Boeing is close to finalizing a delayed order for 150 of its 737 MAX jets after Turkish Airlines threatened to walk away from the high-profile deal in a dispute over maintenance with engine maker CFM.
The deal, part of a package of 225 jets announced after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met US President Donald Trump a year ago, had been held up by disagreement over the airline's request for an industrial deal on engine maintenance but is back on course and may be signed next week.
Squeezed by recent supply chain shortages and rising spares prices, airlines are increasingly negotiating long-term engine deals at the same time as ordering new jets, injecting greater complexity into headline-generating aircraft deals.
Turkish Airlines is one of the world's largest carriers with a mixed fleet of more than 400 Boeing and Airbus jets.
Weeks after announcing the broader Boeing deal last year, it unexpectedly threatened to ditch the 150 MAX jets included in the order and switch to Airbus, citing a dispute with CFM over prices.
Industry sources later said the airline also wanted to open its own maintenance plant for engines that power the 737 MAX by directly joining the top tier of CFM partners, a move that would grant accelerated access to the latest repair technology.
Commenting on the unusual public spat last October, GE Aerospace CEO Larry Culp likened the airline's threat to cancel the deal to negotiating "new deals in public" and insisted GE's pricing strategy reflected the value provided to customers.
On Monday, a senior Turkish Airlines executive told an industry conference that the carrier continued to weigh more aircraft orders to feed the rapid expansion of its Istanbul hub.
The airline is studying regional jets such as the Embraer E2 or Airbus A220 while also comparing the much-larger Boeing 777X and Airbus A350-1000, Senior Vice President Finance Okan Bas told the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading meeting.
