Korean Air Lines Co. intends to get 50 percent of passenger revenue from premium classes by 2019 as it adds new planes and challenges Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. for business travelers.

“We’re aiming to become a real luxury carrier,” President Chi Chang Hoon, 57, said in an interview in Seoul on Friday. Business and first-class cabins accounted for about 20 percent of passenger sales last year, he said.

South Korea’s largest airline plans to expand premium-class sales after forecasting a record first-half operating profit on rebounding passenger and cargo demand. The airline is counting on the 10 Airbus SAS A380s and 10 Boeing Co. 787s it’s scheduled to receive from next year and service improvements to help lure corporate fliers.

“Ever-increasing competition from low-cost carriers means Korean has to look for a bigger share from premium classes,” said Park Euk Kyung, an analyst at Samsung Securities Co. in Seoul. “Still, it will be tough to compete with Singapore Air and Cathay Pacific as their home markets are more business-travel focused.”

Korean Air plans to fit 100 first and business-class seats on its A380s, all of which will be on the upper-deck, Chi said. Singapore Air has 60 business class seats on the upper-deck of its A380s with 12 first-class cabins on the lower level.

Seoul-based Korean Air is overhauling premium-class cabins on existing planes and improving services, Chi said, without elaboration. The airline’s first-class offering has a 4-star rating from research company Skytrax. Singapore Air, which gets about 40 percent of passenger sales from premium cabins, and Cathay both have 5 stars.

The Seoul-based carrier will probably beat its 10.6 trillion won full-year sales target and meet its 1 trillion won operating profit goal, Chi said. In the first half, the carrier  probably had an operating profit of 570 billion won ($473 million) compared with a 149.4 billion won loss a year earlier, Chi said, citing preliminary figures. Sales rose about 25 percent, Chi said.

Based on those figures, the airline probably made a second-quarter operating profit of 350 billion won, beating the 252.7 billion won average of 16 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Chi declined to comment on second-quarter numbers.