Korean Air overhauls US marine tanker for first time

By Yun Suh-young

A U.S. Marine Corps. (USMC) tanker aircraft is being overhauled at a technical center in Busan run by Korean Air, the airline said Tuesday.

This is the first time a U.S. aerial refueling aircraft is receiving depot maintenance from a Korean company.

Korean Air said it recently began maintenance procedures on the KC-130J tanker used by the USMC stationed on Okinawa, Japan, at the Korean Air Aerospace Business Division.

Depot maintenance or overhaul is basically a process where the aircraft is dismantled to be re-equipped with state-of–the–art equipment.

The KC-130J is overhauled once every five years and the process takes about four months to complete.

The aircraft is a former C-130 transport plane produced by Lockheed Martin which was converted into a tanker aircraft.

Korean Air has won contracts to conduct depot maintenance on four more KC-130Js by 2015. Its experience in overhauling C-130 planes dates back to 1983, and has involved nearly 100 aircraft.

“We expect the depot maintenance on KC-130J to allow us to accumulate maintenance techniques in new fields as well as an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage in the bid for the $100 billion depot maintenance project in 2014,” said a Korean Air spokesman.

Korean Air has overhauled about 3,500 aircraft including F-4, F-15, F-16 fighters and helicopters such as the UH-60 and HH-60 since 1978, as well as Korean warplanes.

Korean Air is the only airline company serving as a comprehensive depot maintenance center in the Asia-Pacific region.