Korean Air Lines said on the 27th that it cut carbon emissions from flight operations last year by more than 420,000 tons (t) from a year earlier.
Korean Air Lines' carbon emissions from flight operations last year totaled 12,184,169 tons. That was down 420,055 tons (3.3%) from 2024 (12,604,224 tons). During the same period, total flights increased about 2.6% from the prior year, but carbon emissions fell.
Carbon emissions during flight operations are calculated by multiplying the amount of fuel consumed by a carbon emission factor commonly used across the global aviation industry.
Korean Air Lines said this was the result of strengthening fuel management across all institutional sectors of operations, control, maintenance and transport. Key reduction drivers included expanding the introduction of high-efficiency new aircraft, optimizing economical cruising speeds, improving the accuracy of load weight forecasts, securing the shortest routes during cruise, selecting optimal nearby alternate airports, minimizing auxiliary power unit (APU) use, and periodic engine washing and fine tuning.
The share of flights introduced since 2017 rose to 41.6% of total flights, which significantly contributed to the reduction in emissions. Korean Air Lines cut carbon emissions by operating high-efficiency models such as the Boeing 787-9/10 and the Airbus A350/A321neo.
Data sophistication also supported the effort. Korean Air Lines digitized paper-based data and adopted data processing technology using artificial intelligence (AI). It rationally adjusted onboard supplies such as drinking water and analyzed and forecast in detail the variables that affect passenger baggage weight to reduce weight deviations. In particular, its technology that accurately predicts passenger baggage weight using AI-driven data processing was selected as an excellent case of AI utilization in the "2025 Sustainable Flight Challenge," organized by the airline alliance SkyTeam.