Korean Air has delivered the first B747-400 converted freighter at its Aerospace/Engineering and Maintenance Base in Busan, marking the air carrier's first step into the civil aircraft conversion provider market.

The airline said said that while the cost of acquiring a new freighter plane would be over $150 million, conversion only costs $30 million.

"Keeping in mind the continued growth of the world cargo market, especially in the Asian region, the conversion operation will allow Korean Air to keep up with the cargo demand at a much lower cost," the statement added.

Converting a passenger plane into a freighter can be considered similar to building a new aircraft, said the company statement. It requires highly sophisticated system management skills with more than 40,000 components being replaced during the operation by 200 workers and costing about US$30 million. It took six months to complete the conversion since the commencement of the project in August last year, the airline said.

Korean Air plans to convert a total of eight of its passenger aircraft by 2009. In addition to its own fleet, Korean Air will provide conversion service to other airlines, targeting yearly earnings of $100 million and creating 500 new jobs. Currently, only Singapore, Israel and China have conversion capabilities.

The conversion will not only be a new source of business for Korean Air, but will also allow stable and economical supply of cargo capacity for Korean Air.

The air carrier's executive vice president Hang-Jin Cho said: "This successful beginning of our aircraft conversion business is meaningful in many ways. It proves our advanced technology and skills to the world aviation industry. It will be a strong support for our cargo business, and provide another source of business for our aerospace and engineering sections."

The converted freighter was to be put into service today January 25.