Avid avgeeks were in for a treat on the recent airing of James Corden’s Late Late Show. As iconic K-Pop group BTS belted out their new song ‘Dynamite’, keen viewers might have spotted an interesting cameo in the performance from Korean Air’s beautiful blue 787-9 Dreamliner.
The Late Late Show featuring Korean Air
Korean Air has landed a starring role on the popular James Corden Late Late Show with K-Pop sensation BTS. The group showcased their new song Dynamite as part of their appearance and showed their love for their homegrown airline during the performance.
The feature opens with a festive home scene, which turns out to be nothing more than the back of a truck parked on the apron at the airport. After a bit of singing on the back of the truck, a BTS band member takes to the roof of the vehicle, which is when we get our first glimpse of the big blue Dreamliner parked behind.
ICONIC @BTS_twt simply ICONIC. #DYNAMITE pic.twitter.com/UjjGEEFI6B
— The Late Late Show with Papa Mochi 💜 (@latelateshow) November 25, 2020
We get some more nice views of the exterior of the 787 as the boys shake their stuff at the bottom of the airstairs. But of course, the interior is what we’re all waiting for, and BTS don’t disappoint.
Up the stairs, we go and in through the forward door, into the ‘Prestige’ cabin of the Dreamliner. It’s a 2-2-2 layout with staggered seating, and quite large for a Dreamliner with 24 seats in all. The joy of the Dreamliner’s appearance is short-lived, however, as we’re quickly transported back to the set of the Late Late Show and away from all the avgeek fun. You can enjoy the video in all its glory below:
Through the powers of deduction (and a bit of help from FlightRadar24.com) we deduce that this was Korean Air’s 787-9 Dreamliner registered HL8083. It was tracked arriving into Los Angeles on November 23rd at 17:00, where it stayed just long enough for a cameo on the popular Late Late Show, departing again for Seoul at 20:00.
The trip is around 10 hours of flight time and just over 9,600 km great circle distance, well within the 14,800 km range of the 787-9. It’s not clear whether BTS had the whole plane to themselves or if it was a regular flight, but the flight number, KE8015 out and KE8016 back, is the regular Korean Air service between Seoul and LAX, although sometimes flown with a 777.
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Korean Air and K-Pop culture
It’s not the first time K-Pop bands have featured their home grown carrier in their videos. Or perhaps that should be the other way round. In November last year, fellow K-poppers SuperM starred in a new safety video for Korean Air, which definitely had more to do with the pop group than aircraft safety!
The partnership between Korean Air and K-Pop runs even deeper than glamorous sci-fi themed safety videos too. Reports suggest that the airline is taking personal responsibility for getting BTS’ highly anticipated new album into the sticky hands of the A.R.M.Y. (an anagram for Adorable Representative MC for Youth for the uninitiated) as quicky as possible.
Somag News reported last month that an employee of Korean Air said that warehouse activities had been stepped up in lieu of the shipping of the new album. They said that deliveries that used to take around 72 hours to complete would now be accomplished in just 24 in order to ensure the timely arrival of the album and accompanying merchandise.
BTS regularly travel with Korean Air, something which became a bit of a headache for the airline in 2018. Obsessed fans of the K-pop groups like BTS were regularly buying expensive airline tickets in order to get close to their band, checking in, snapping selfies and then disembarking the flight. Korean Air said it had dealt with some 35 incidents in the space of a year, and was forced to raise its no-show fee in order to tackle the issue.
It seems that Korean Air and K-Pop are destined to go hand in hand through the trials of 2020. Did you catch the Dreamliner on the show? Let us know in the comments.
