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Recent schedule changes have confirmed that Korean Air will not be bringing its Boeing 747-8 double-decker widebody quadjets back to the United Kingdom this year. The type had initially been slated to serve the route between the carrier’s main hub at Seoul 
Incheon International Airport(ICN) and London Heathrow (LHR), but, now, the Boeing 777-300ER will take its place, meaning that the ‘triple-seven’ serves the route all year round.
Such changes are far from unheard of, with airlines constantly having to juggle capacity and demand in order to make the best use of their fleet, particularly on expensive long-haul routes such as Seoul to London. However, this alteration has increased significance as it also represents the end of the last scheduled commercial passenger route to and from the UK that was using the 
Boeing 747, bringing an end to the nation’s jumbo era.
Swapped For The 777
While the coronavirus pandemic decimated 747 operations in the UK, with BA and Virgin Atlantic retiring their jumbos as a result, the industry’s recovery saw Korean Air resume flights with the 747-8 from Seoul to London in June 2024. This seasonal boost saw the type take over from the 777-300ER until October of that year, with the South Korean flag carrier repeating the trick in 2025. Last year, these services ended on October 31.
Initially, scheduling data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, showed that the 747-8 was set to return to the route this summer. Now, however, the site’s ‘Recent Changes Report’ shows that the three planned weekly round trips with the type in July, August, and September have been shelved, with the 777-300ER serving this route all year round instead. As such, the era of scheduled passenger 747 operations in the UK has reached its end.
Simple Flying reached out to Korean Air for further information on the aircraft change, but did not get a response by the time of publication. We will update our coverage if and when we receive a statement.
Where Can You Find Korean Air’s Boeing 747-8s Instead?
Of course, cargo airlines will continue to fly Boeing 747 freighters to and from the UK for the time being. However, this will be of scant consolation to those in the country who might have wanted to fly to Seoul for the purpose of riding the jumbo jet, and will now have to travel elsewhere to do so.
In terms of Korean Air’s current Boeing 747-8 operations, Cirium shows that the airline has scheduled exactly 100 flights with the type this month, with 88 being found on the route from Seoul to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). These 44 flights in each direction equate to 11 rotations a week across February, underlining high demand on the route. Korean Air also flies the 747-8 to Hong Kong (HKG), Taipei (TPE), and Tokyo Narita (NRT).
According to ch-aviation, Korean Air’s Boeing 747-8 fleet now consists of just four passenger examples of the type and seven freighters, with these sub-fleets boasting respective ages of 9.3 and 12.4 years old. The passenger examples have six first class, 48 business class, and 314 economy seats on board.
Up To 17 Hours: The US’s Top 10 Longest Nonstop Boeing 747 Flights In 2026
Brace yourself: prepare for the longest Boeing 747 flight of your life.
This Time 10 & 20 Years Ago
Looking back in time, we can see that the UK used to be a much busier market as far as Boeing 747 operations went. 10 years ago in February 2016, for example, there were 884 scheduled 747 departures from the country. While most of these were operated, as seen above, by British Airways on high-demand long-haul routes, there were also El Al flights to Tel Aviv, with Virgin Atlantic flying the type from Manchester and London Gatwick.
Going back another 10 years, to February 2006, shows even greater diversity, with 2,168 Boeing 747 departures scheduled from the UK that month at an average rate of over 77 a day. Alongside BA’s obvious dominance, carriers such as Air India, Air China, Air New Zealand, Asiana, Cathay Pacific, Cubana, Iran Air, JAL, Excel, Malaysia Airlines, PIA, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, South African, Syrianair, Thai, United, and Virgin also used the type.
