Korean Air's (KAL's) partner airlines in the SkyTeam alliance, Air France and Delta Air Lines, are to inspect safety standards at the South Korean carrier before deciding whether to reinstate codeshare arrangements.
They have been suspended since 1999 after KAL suffered a series of accidents and incidents culminating in the crash of one of its Boeing 747-200 freighters shortly after take-off from London Stansted in December 1999. This led to a complete review of training and safety. KAL describes the inspection as a "standard operational review".
If the results of the review are satisfactory, it could still be a matter of months before the codeshares are fully reinstated, however.
Last year, a senior KAL executive said that the French and US carriers had agreed to bring the agreements back into effect from March, although this was later denied by Delta. The US Federal Aviation Administration requires that it is advised of codesharing arrangements with foreign carriers, and US airlines have to satisfy the FAA that safety checks of the codeshare partner are adequate.
Source: Flight International
