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The overall view of the Korean Air booth at the 2026 Land, Infrastructure and Transport Technology Fair. / Courtesy of Korean Air

Korean Air is showcasing its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) technologies alongside its vision for future aviation solutions at the 2026 Land, Infrastructure and Transport Technology Fair.

The airline announced on June 24 that it is participating in the three-day industry exhibition, which kicks off today and runs through June 26 at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

Organized by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and managed by the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA), the tech fair stands as South Korea's premier exhibition for infrastructure and transport technologies. Anchored by this year's slogan, "Technology that Changes the Future," the event features pavilions from 81 institutions and enterprises.

Korean Air has simulated a next-generation aviation maintenance environment at its booth, displaying aircraft inspection drones, ground rovers, mechanic training simulators, and dedicated inspection stations. In tandem, the carrier is unveiling "AI Pilot," an autonomous mission execution system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), alongside "ACROSS," an integrated traffic management solution, effectively presenting a blueprint for its envisioned aviation ecosystem.

On the exhibition floor, attendees can get a firsthand look at the future of aviation maintenance through an AI-powered robotic aircraft inspection system, where aerial drones work in tandem with ground rovers. This setup replaces conventional visual inspections by deploying a heterogeneous swarm of drones to inspect the upper fuselage and rovers to scan the underbelly, all tied together by an AI-powered analysis framework.

Beyond eliminating the safety risks associated with mechanics working at elevated heights, the robotic system slashes inspection times for a large commercial widebody aircraft from the typical 8 to 10 hours down to roughly 50 minutes. Visitors can observe how the system's AI analyzes robot-harvested data to detect structural flaws as tiny as 1 millimeter, and they can try out an AI maintenance-support chatbot firsthand.

The carrier is also spotlighting its technologies for future unmanned aviation architectures. The "AI Pilot" system on display features AI capabilities engineered for a variety of drone platforms currently under development, including low-observable unmanned wingmen and subsonic target drones.

Furthermore, Korean Air is co-exhibiting "ACROSS," an integrated traffic management platform, in partnership with the national strategic technology initiative for Urban Air Mobility (UAM). Entirely developed in-house by Korean Air, ACROSS is designed to manage UAM and other next-generation air mobility networks safely and efficiently.

"This exhibition provides a comprehensive stage for us to display not only our AI-backed MRO capabilities but also our pipeline of future drone and UAM technologies," a Korean Air official stated. "Moving forward, we will continue to drive aerospace innovation and cultivate a robust industrial ecosystem through cutting-edge R&D and win-win collaborations with our industry partners."

                                                                                                            Kim Han-seul