In Seoul, Korean Air sealed a $44.8 billion agreement with Boeing, GE Aerospace, and CFM International — the airline's largest purchase in its history — binding together the commercial ambitions of two allied nations and the operational future of a carrier on the verge of transformation. The deal, rooted in a partnership stretching back to 1971 and shaped in Washington's diplomatic corridors last year, secures 103 aircraft and a decade and a half of maintenance as Korean Air prepares to absorb Asiana Airlines in December. It is, at its core, a wager on continuity: that demand will hold, that e