Korean aviation has been going through a big patch of change. A part of the change has been what T'way Air has been going through, with the introduction of their A330-200s and more importantly, their 777-300ERs. The introduction of A330-200s was rumored ever since the merger with Korean Air giving up some European routes' market share to T'way and they already operated some A330-300s. However, 77Ws were not something that was rumored until a short while before, and the way in which they brought them has sparked a lot of attention.
So, Korean Air originally leased their whole fleet of A330-200s to T'way as their A330-300s weren't capable of reaching Europe non-stop with the closure of Russian airspace. Then, the A330-200s had quite a lot of small reliability issues forcing a lot of delays and cancellations for the airline. Remember, they leased these planes in the first place because of the local laws and fair trade issues that vetoed the 3-4-3 economy of Korean Air's 77Ws. Apparently, HL8211 was quite a problematic aircraft and the problems haven't stopped since being leased to T'way. As a result, Korean Air decided to pull an outrageous move and buy two Cathay 77Ws (B-KQE and B-KQK) just to lease them to T'way Air. Basically that's how this unimaginable sight of seeing 77Ws in T'way colors came to be. I might've left some things out but that's basically the flow of things.
As is the tradition with all other new aircraft types, their 77Ws were also put on the GMP-CJU shuttle, so I wasted no time in snatching a ride. This journey cost me 69,000KRW total, which is definitely not bad all things considered. However, I had to move the flight back a week due to schedule conflicts so it set me back another 30,000KRW.
If you're planning a GMP-CJU quick turn, I'd recommend giving yourself at least an hour for everything, but I'd say 45 minutes is the minimum, if you're planning on getting on the same aircraft back. If the first flight is delayed, the second flight will also be delayed if you're on the same aircraft.
As the departure time was pretty early in the morning, I took the bus at 4:40am and arrived at the airport an hour later. If you're on a domestic flight, being at the airport 90 minutes before is plenty when flights are stacked.
While I was waiting, I checked my flight information. At the time, T'way had only received HL8706 and the surprise was that it had been designated spot 32 for our parking, which was a remote stand. So, I'd board a 777 on stairs.
Our route today would be a standard cruise on Y711. As it is an early morning flight, I didn't expect any holding over the ocean as we descend.
I followed the signs to the T'way desks. If you are planning to use a kiosk, you don't need to follow these signs as any kiosk anywhere will print your boarding pass. The new Korean Air logo was seen as well.
I got my boarding pass and was through security in just 10 minutes.
This Asiana 767 on its last days was parked at gate 16 preparing for another day doing the GMP-CJU shuttle. I have been on this plane twice in December of 2024, but since then it had its red Asiana logo removed. Even though it's 6 in the morning the sun hasn't even risen yet as it is only March and the winter weather is prevalent.
About an hour later, we were boarding through gate 5, which is a bus gate. I'd reckon about 6 buses are needed for a packed 77W.
As you can see, the sun has risen since the 767 picture, but the weather itself is very gloomy. This will affect the views unfortunately, as the cruising altitude for this short flight is only about 23,000ft normally.
As the bus took a right turn past the domestic terminal in the direction of the international terminal, our 777 for today was seen. You can see just how long that thing is.
Our ride for today had the stairs connected to the L1 door. I presume they didn't use the L2 door as well because boarding by bus, it doesn;t need all the capacity for flow.
I personally the T'way livery fits the 777 really well. Boarding through stairs you can see just how big the plane is. You don't get this kind of opportunity to feel the true scale of it because you only see it from the terminal to the tarmac or pretty far away when plane spotting. The first picture was taken with a 1x scale and the second picture was taken with the wide lens. It was physically impossible to fit the whole aircraft in with the wingtips as well.
Also, I still can't figure out how to get a nice picture of the plane when boarding through stairs. Can't figure out how long I can stay in the tarmac or how far our I can deviate. Obviously following the crew's instructions is most important.
The Business class cabin had the same reverse herringbone seats straight from when this was active for Cathay. Funnily enough, T'way managed to get the title for the first reverse herringbone seats in Korea. I'd definitely laugh it off if you told me this a year ago.
The small Premium Economy class cabin, also in the same condition.
One difference is the T'way red headrest covers, which I think looks very out of place.
This was my seat for today, 40K which is the first row in Economy. I paid a small fee to be in this seat which is considered a bulkhead seat. These Economy class seats didn't have the headrest covers, though.
The view from my seat.
The IFE was located on the wall in front. This was the screen shown throughout the whole flight. When I was on this flight, I think T'way didn't have a software system for the IFEs to operate, but I don't know if it's any different now.
As I reserved a bulkhead seat, I had two whole windows to myself.
It was very gloomy, with lots of fine dust,
The seatback pockets contained quite a bit of stuff. Pretty refreshing, considering airlines are trending towards scaling down on these.
The signs of Cathay can be seen if you look closely enough.
Doors closed, pushback done, and flight control checks underway.
The size difference between the 737 and the 777 is clearly seen.
We took off from runway 14L, under cloudy skies with quite a strong wind. The flaperons were doing quite a lot of work, and even the spoilers were put into action just a bit to keep the plane on track.
As we climbed to our cruising altitude, we left the clouds under us. The registration HL8706 is written clearly on the wing.
View of the small Economy cabin between the 3rd and the 4th doors.
Comparing the Premium Economy and the Economy seats, the IFE on the Economy seats are newer. This is because when this frame went through a refurbishment, the Economy class cabin was the only one that was replaced.
We started our descent about 35 minutes after taking off.
We landed on runway 25 on time.
We were assigned gate 1.
A look at the Cathay first class seats as I deplane. Keep in mind, this is only on HL8706, as HL8707 does not have First class. That has to be such a headache for dispatch. I presume they couldn't find two with the same cabin?
All in all, a very interesting experience. The evidence of Cathay can also be seen with the BCC.
This was when I landed back in GMP.
