Korean Air Lines was a fast growing Asian airline in the 1970s. One of their major routes was from Seoul to New York. This route could not be flown non-stop by their existing fleet of 747-200s as they required a refuelling stop at Anchorage. The 747SPs would allow the airline to bypass Anchorage completely.

Korean Air Lines placed an order with Boeing for two 747SPs on April 10, 1979. The first 747SP to join their fleet was the thirty-sixth Boeing 747SP constructed. Rolled out of the Boeing plant at Everett on November 24, 1980 it was powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A engines. Entered onto the Korean Aircraft Register as HL-7456 it flew for the first time on December 23, 1980. Accepted at Paine Field on January 22, 1981 it was configured with a three cabin layout. Twelve First Class seats were located on the upper deck, forty 'Prestige Class' seats - another fancy name for Business Class - were located in the first two cabins on the lower deck and 200 Economy Class seats were located in the two rear cabins.

The airline changed its name to Korean Air on June 20, 1984 with a new corporate livery which had been applied to the aircraft by 1991.

Having been retired by the airline this aircraft was sold to the Boeing Aircraft Holding Company on November 01, 1998. Entered onto the United States Aircraft Register as N709BA on November 15, 1998 it was ferried to Everett a few days later before flying to Marana for storage on December 22, 1998. It was donated by Boeing to Wings World Wide to be converted into a flying hospital on July 21, 2001 but nothing eventuated.

It was recorded as being listed for sale having flown 67,553 hours with 9,648 cycles by March 17, 2005 with a purchase price of $US 1,000,000. It was sold to Mountain Aircraft Services of Kinston, NC on June 06, 2005. The aircraft had been purchased for scrapping.

N709BA was observed on the main flight ramp at Marana on December 16, 2006 with many parts missing. By February 16, 2007 its wings and tail section had been removed and the rest of the fuselage was cut up shortly thereafter.