Korean Air cancels flights amid pilot strike

About 180 unionized Korean Air pilots seeking a 29 percent pay increase began a 10-day strike yesterday, causing the airline to cancel 148 passenger and cargo flights on domestic and international routes.    Korean Air Lines Co. is cancelling nearly 150 passenger and cargo flights due to a pilot strike, according to a customer advisory notice from the airline.
   About 180 unionized Korean Air pilots began a 10-day strike yesterday, causing the country’s largest airline to cancel 148 flights, including 12 cargo flights, on domestic and international routes.
   The Korean Air Pilots Union has been in negotiations with the company for over a year, reportedly seeking a 29 percent pay increase instead of the 1.9 percent raise proposed by management, but talks broke down recently, leading to the strike action.
   “A strike is not our end goal. But the company’s proposal for a pay raise is too little for us to accept,” a union leader said, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
   The walkout is the union’s first since December 2005, when Korean Air was forced to cancel more than 1,000 flights and lost more than 200 billion won (U.S. $167 million) in just four days, according to the Korea Times.
   The Korea Times story quoted an official with Korean Air as saying the union’s demands are “nonsense, as Hanjin Group has sustained losses for years. They want an increase which amounts to almost the same as the annual wage of a general employee.”
   Korean Air pilots earn an average of 150 million won annually, according to the article.
   Despite the strike, the airline said it will maintain an operation rate of 97 percent for international flights, 90 percent for flights to Jeju and 72 percent for other domestic flights. Disrupted international routes include those from Incheon to Japan, Hong Kong, China, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
   Passengers and cargo owners who booked space on the now cancelled flights will be offered alternatives or receive refunds, the airline said.