Airline News
Korea: “Nut Rage”, Kumho, Jeju
May 4th 2015
New details have emerged in the “nut rage” scandal at Korean Air, which suggested the airline was well-aware of former executive Heather Cho’s behavioural escapades as indeed it trained for them. Read More » It transpired that the South Korean flag carrier offered five-hour courses on “certain language to use or avoid when speaking to her, where and how to store her carry-on bags, the volume that welcome music should be played when she boarded the plane and the optimal temperature at which to serve her soup,” according to court papers filed last Wednesday in Queens Supreme Court. In the course of the training, crew would also review written reports and transcripts generated from Cho’s past flights, and participate in "role playing exercises" to practice how to act in front of her boss. Cho is appealing against an eight-month jail term.
In the meantime, creditors of Asiana Airlines' parent, Kumho Industrial, have rejected a 600.7 billion won ($561.88 million) bid for a controlling stake in Kumho because the price was too low, a spokesman for the lead creditor said last Wednesday. Local developer, Hoban Construction, submitted the sole bid, but it was far lower than some analysts' expectations of up to 1 trillion won for the 57% stake Korea Development Bank and other interested parties had put up. Creditors are expected to decide on their next move as early as May 6. Kumho owns a 30.1% stake in Asiana.
Jeju Air, the country’s largest low-cost carrier in terms of passengers carried, has reported a record quarterly operating profit of 21.1 billion won ($19.6 million) for the quarter ended March 31, up from 4.9 billion won in the corresponding year-ago period. In other news, Korean Air’s MRO unit, Korean Air Aerospace (KAL-ASD), has confirmed a deal with Airbus, to manufacture sharklet wingtips for the A330neo slated for first delivery in fourth-quarter 2017. Busan-based KAL-ASD has worked with Airbus for more than 25 years on projects, including manufacturing sharklets for the A320 Family and composite cargo doors for the A350.
