Koreanske flygere streiker - Curt Lewis

Korean Air Pilots Strike, Disrupting Asia, Mideast Routes

Some flights on the airline's major Asian and Middle Eastern routes will be disrupted

Korean Air Lines planes at Incheon International Airport, near Seoul, South Korea. 

SEOUL-Unionized pilots at Korean Air Lines Co. went on strike Thursday for the first time in 11 years, disrupting some flights on the airline's major Asian and Middle Eastern routes.

The pilots entered the 10-day strike after talks with management broke down, following nearly a year of wage negotiations.

'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

"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.

Over the next 10 days, the strike is expected to lead to the cancellation of as many as 150 passenger and cargo flights on the carrier's domestic and international routes, including to Hong Kong, Dubai and Tokyo, according to the transport ministry.

Korean Air said disruptions will be limited and that more than 90% of flights scheduled for the next 10 days will be unaffected.

"We're diverting passengers on the affected flights to other routes to their destinations. We will also make sure no year-end cargo are delayed," a company spokesman said.

A complete work stoppage by pilots is prohibited under Korean law.

Airlines are categorized as one of the country's critical industries, meaning that at least 80% of a company's international flight operations and half of local flights must be maintained even during strikes. Korean Air accounts for about 40% of the country's international flight operations.

The strike comes as more Korean pilots are moving to China, where demand for aviators is outpacing supply and airlines are luring experienced pilots from overseas with competitive compensation packages.

In 2015, more than 120 pilots left Korean Air-seven times the number for the year before, according to the company, with nearly half moving to China.

The flood of departing Korean pilots has prompted greater demand for higher wages among those who stay.

Korean Air's union, of which about two-thirds of the carrier's 2,700 pilots are members, has threatened to strike since February, demanding a 29% pay raise instead of the 1.9% increase proposed by the company.

The union is open to fresh talks with the company, but if no wage deal is reached by the end of December, the pilot strike would be extended for another 10 days, a union leader said.

A spokesman for Korean Air said the pilots' demands are unacceptable, as the wage gap between pilots and other staff is already wide.

The strike marks the carrier's first labor action since 2005, when a four-day pilot strike resulted in a loss of 67 billion won ($56 million) from canceled flights and other service disruptions.


That action spurred the government to order pilots back to work amid concerns over damage to the economy and passenger inconvenience.

As air-route networks rapidly expand to serve Asia's burgeoning middle classes, the region is forecast to need 226,000 new pilots in the next 20 years-more than Europe, North America and Africa combined, according to aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co.
Asiana Airlines Inc., Korean Air's domestic rival, lost 61 pilots to Chinese and other airlines in 2015, double the number for the prior year.