The carrier is linking automated aerospace manufacturing, intelligent aircraft maintenance and low-altitude traffic management in a three-part technology showcase at BEXCO.
Korean Air’s exhibition booth at World Smart City Expo 2026 in Busan, where the airline is presenting AI-powered manufacturing, MRO and urban air mobility technologies.
- Korean Air is exhibiting at World Smart City Expo 2026 at BEXCO in Busan from September 9 to 11 with a three-part future aviation framework.
- The Future Aviation AX zone focuses on AI-enabled process and logistics automation for aircraft component and airframe production.
- The AI Aviation MRO zone pairs collaborative inspection drones and ground rovers for real-time exterior defect detection, with plans to incorporate Boeing maintenance manuals.
- ACROSS applies AI-driven low-altitude traffic management to the safe and efficient coordination of urban air mobility aircraft.
(NEWS) BUSAN, South Korea, 2026-Sep-09 — /Travel PR News/ — Artificial intelligence is moving deeper into aviation’s physical infrastructure, and Korean Air is using Busan’s World Smart City Expo 2026 to show how automated aircraft production, robotic maintenance and low-altitude traffic management could function as parts of the same future mobility ecosystem.
At the three-day World Smart City Expo 2026, running from September 9 to 11 at BEXCO Exhibition Center 1 in Busan, the airline is presenting a next-generation aviation framework built around three areas: advanced automated manufacturing, AI-powered aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul, and integrated traffic management for Urban Air Mobility. Korean Air’s official update places those technologies within a broader vision of aviation infrastructure designed to connect with future smart-city systems.
The expo is marking its 10th anniversary this year. Organisers describe WSCE as Asia’s largest smart-city event, with the 2026 edition co-hosted by South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Science and ICT and Busan Metropolitan City. Its programme spans AI solutions, transportation, mobility, infrastructure, construction and marine technology, giving Korean Air a setting that reaches beyond conventional airline operations.
AI moves into aerospace production
Korean Air’s Future Aviation AX, or AI Transformation, zone focuses on how aircraft manufacturing could become more automated. Video demonstrations show an advanced multipurpose production line that uses AI to automate both production processes and logistics for the mass manufacture of aircraft components and airframes.
The airline is presenting the system as a blueprint for smart factories and next-generation aerospace production. The zone also includes automated commercial-aircraft manufacturing technology and a Stealth Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, extending the display from factory processes into the types of advanced aerial platforms those production systems may support.
For the travel and aviation sector, the emphasis is notable because the exhibit is not centred on a new passenger service or cabin product. Instead, it focuses on the industrial systems behind future aviation capacity: how aircraft are built, how they are inspected and how new classes of aircraft could eventually share increasingly complex airspace.
Drones and rovers take on aircraft inspection
The AI Aviation MRO zone shifts the focus from manufacturing to maintenance. Korean Air is demonstrating a digital maintenance system in which collaborative inspection drones and ground rovers conduct high-precision exterior scans of aircraft, identify defects and report findings in real time.
Korean Air says the approach is intended as a scalable model for autonomous and intelligent maintenance of large mobility assets. The company is also working to incorporate Boeing maintenance manuals into the system, a step that would connect automated inspection results more closely with established maintenance documentation and procedures.
The technology builds on a wider programme of smart maintenance development. Korean Air has previously demonstrated drone-based aircraft inspection and AI-supported MRO tools, while its Drone Show Korea 2026 showcase in Busan also combined unmanned-aircraft technology with aircraft MRO capabilities.
ACROSS targets the low-altitude traffic challenge
The third part of the exhibit centres on ACROSS, short for Air Control and Routing Orchestrated Skyway System. Korean Air developed the platform to manage the operational and traffic-control demands of Advanced and Urban Air Mobility, where aircraft are expected to operate in more complex three-dimensional low-altitude environments than traditional airline networks.
At WSCE 2026, Korean Air is presenting ACROSS as an AI-driven Low-Altitude smart Air Traffic Management system designed to coordinate safe and efficient UAM flight operations. The focus on traffic management highlights one of the less visible requirements of future urban aviation: aircraft design alone is not enough if multiple vehicles, operators and routes cannot be coordinated safely within constrained airspace.
Korean Air has continued to develop ACROSS through industry demonstrations and partnerships, and the system has become a recurring element of the airline’s future-mobility strategy. At Drone Show Korea 2026, the company displayed ACROSS alongside other AAM technologies, reinforcing its effort to build capabilities not only in aircraft operations but also in the systems that could manage emerging low-altitude transport networks.
“A true smart city is realized when ground infrastructure seamlessly connects with advanced aviation manufacturing, control and MRO capabilities,” a Korean Air representative said. The company added that it intends to continue advancing automated production and aerospace technology as part of its future aerospace-cluster vision.
According to the official WSCE exhibitor listing, Korean Air is located at booth W-F04. The exhibition is open from 10:00 to 17:00 on September 9 and 10, and from 10:00 to 16:00 on September 11 at BEXCO in Busan.
