Korean Air teams up with Boeing unit on unmanned vehicle

Park Jung-woo, Senior Vice President of Korean Air’s Aerospace Business Division, left, and Randy Rotte, Regional Director of International Sales, Asia Pacific at Insitu at an MOU ceremony on Thursday. [KOREAN AIR LINES]

Korean Air Lines is teaming up with Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, to jointly develop an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Korean Air Lines said Friday that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Insitu to cooperate on the development of a lightweight and modularized tactical vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

The MOU was signed at the 2021 Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition that took place this week at the Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi.

The airline said it expects a synergy effect by combining the core technologies of both companies: Korean Air’s expertise in UAV development and production, and Insitu’s state-of-the-art UAV technologies.

“With its extensive insight and knowledge accumulated from years of technological development and innovation, Korean Air will contribute to building a UAV ecosystem through developing a traffic control management system for UAVs,” said the airline in a statement, adding it hopes to advance the urban air mobility industry.

“Through technical cooperation with aerospace enterprises like Insitu, Korean Air will continue to actively expand business opportunities in both domestic and global markets,” it added.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]