Korean Air announced today it has held an aircraft cleaning event at the airline’s hangar at Seoul Incheon International Airport on April 18.
While the airline regularly performs aircraft cleaning, today’s event is more symbolic for Korean Air as it gets ready to welcome customers who have been waiting to travel abroad once again.
Korean Air thoroughly cleaned one of its Boeing 747-8i, a wide-body jet usually deployed on long-haul routes, removing dust and foreign particles.
Aircraft cleaning is carried out part by part (fuselage, landing gears, wings, engines, etc.) using special equipment that disperses water, cleaning fluid, and/or steam.
The fuselage is cleaned by first spraying water to remove dust from the surface, then having workers carefully remove dust and pollutants with cleaning fluid and special tools, and finally by re-applying high-pressure water to remove any remaining fluid. The jet engines are sprayed with high-pressure water to remove dust, and the spray/drying process is repeated several times. To clean the exterior of the aircraft including the fuselage, a high place operation car, three lift cars, and three water service trucks are required.
The water used during cleaning is collected to be disposed properly in order to prevent environmental pollution.
Cleaning the engine helps lower the exhaust gas temperature by 2℃ and improve fuel efficiency, reducing carbon emissions by 190 tons per year.
“We are both reducing carbon emissions and welcoming our customers back with the best service through our freshly cleaned aircraft,” said a Korean Air representative.
Korean Air is making efforts to return its operations to pre-pandemic levels following the rebound in air travel demand. In line with the government’s plan to reopen international routes, the airline plans to gradually restore suspended routes and flights while it meticulously prepares for increased operations and enhanced levels of customer service.
