Korean Air-Supernal Sign MOU to Establish Domestic UAM Operation Ecosystem

"Accelerating Development of Vertical Takeoff and Landing Vehicles"

Korean Air announced on the 17th at Seoul ADEX 2023 that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the US company Supernal to establish an urban air mobility (UAM) operation business ecosystem and cooperate on commercialization. The signing ceremony was attended by Woo Ki-hong, President of Korean Air, Park Jung-woo, Head of Korean Air Aerospace Business Division, and Shin Jae-won, CEO of Supernal.

(From left) Jungwoo Park, Executive Vice President of Aerospace Business Division at Korean Air, Woo Ki-hong, CEO of Korean Air, Jaewon Shin, CEO of Supernal, and Jaeyong Song, Managing Director of Hyundai Motor Company, are posing for a commemorative photo.
[Photo by Korean Air]

Supernal is an independent UAM subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group in the United States and an advanced air mobility company. It is collaborating with Microsoft (MS) to develop future air mobility solutions. The company aims to start commercial UAM services by 2028.

Both companies will jointly promote the establishment of a domestic UAM operation ecosystem. In particular, they will finalize the technical requirements to be considered in the process of manufacturing electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL) optimized for the domestic UAM market and operational environment through consultations. Based on technical data and operational experience accumulated in practice, they will also develop applicable business models for future implementation.

Korean Air is currently participating as a joint research institution in the UAM surveillance information acquisition system research and development project led by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, developing an operation control system and operation simulation system.