By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter


Korean Air will be forced to cancel 253, or 63 percent of its scheduled 399 flights Friday as its unionized pilots enter the second day of their strike.

Executives of the nation’s largest airline said 54, or 34 percent of 157 international flights, would be grounded Friday.

The strike is expected to suspend about 176 flights, or 83 percent of the 212 domestic flights, including ones departing from Kimpo to Cheju.

Twenty-three out of 30 international cargo flights will be called off.

Passengers are advised to check their flight schedules before leaving for the airports by calling the airline at 1588-2001.

They said that on Thursday, the first day of the walkout, the strike disrupted more than half of the carrier’s domestic and international flights.

They said that the strike will not only interrupt the country’s air traffic during the peak winter holiday season, but also deal a serious blow to the economy and the export industry.

The pilots launched a strike after their last-minute negotiations collapsed Wednesday over wage increases and working conditions, ending a dozen rounds of negotiations since Oct. 17.

On Tuesday, about 80 percent voted in favor of striking with 83.8 percent of the 1,344 unionized pilots participating in the vote. The union said 897 of them said ``yes’’ to the strike plan.

The strike Thursday grounded a total of 204 flights, or 53 percent of the scheduled 387 flights.

Of 154 international flights, 30 were grounded, while 150 out of 202 domestic flights, were disrupted.

The walkout also suspended 24 out of 31 international cargo flights with 101 flights connecting inland routes being disrupted.

Korean Air estimated that the strike would cost the country’s export industry 50 billion won ($48.5 million) in lost exports per day, on top of the company’s 18.7 billion won in lost revenue.

More than 500 of the 1,346 unionized pilots took part in a sit-in protest Thursday at a company training center near Incheon International Airport.

``We will continue the struggle against the company until management comes up with a reasonable proposal on wage increases and other issues,’’ the union said Thursday in a statement.

It said that management should be held accountable for the strike.

The union is demanding a 6.5-percent hike in wages and flight allowances with an increase of 50 percentage points in employees’ bonuses.

But the company is offering a 2.5-percent pay raise and an increase of 50 percentage points in bonuses, a compromise which was proposed by the National Labor Relations Commission on Dec. 2.

Korean Air officials said that the company is not in position to accept the union’s demands due to a series of external negative occurrences, such as surging oil prices, affecting the airline industry.

The management also said the actual aim of the union’s walkout is not over the wage hike but rather on the reinstatement of three fired pilots.

In 2001, the airline fired eight unionized pilots for an illegal strike and reinstated five of them. The remaining three have not been given their positions back.

``We filed a complaint with the Kangso Police Station against 27 union members for interference in business, as demanding reinstatement of fired workers during wage negotiation is an interference with business,’’ the officials said.

But the union claimed their dispute was not over the reinstatement issue.

leehs@koreatimes.co.kr