Korean Air’s Cho Quits After Criticism Over Staff Treatment

By Kyunghee Park 

Heather Cho, daughter of Korean Air Lines Co. (003490) Chairman Cho Yang Ho, resigned after her ordering an employee to leave a plane over service standards created a backlash from the public.
Cho, 40, and a vice president at the Seoul-based airline, offered her resignation to the board and the directors accepted that, the carrier said in an e-mailed statement today. The chairman presided over the meeting.
“I apologize to the customers and the public for causing social issues and to those who have been hurt by my actions,” Heather Cho said in the statement. “I will take full responsibility and resign from all my positions.”
Heather ordered the head of the service crew on Flight 86 from New York to Seoul to deplane Dec. 5 after an attendant earlier had served her macadamia nuts without asking, the carrier said yesterday. Cho then summoned the purser to ask a question about the airline’s policy on
serving nuts. She ordered the plane back to the gate and instructed the man to leave the plane when he couldn’t answer.
Under the carrier’s rules, passengers must be asked first before serving.
A call to Korean Air’s main number in Seoul seeking a comment from Cho went to an automated answering service.

Photographer: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Heather Cho, Vice President of Korean Air Lines Co.

Cho’s action was criticized by South Korea’s Dong-A Ilbo newspaper in an editorial today saying the actions were an example of the “sense of privilege” felt by families running the country’s chaebols, or conglomerates.

Scolding

“She may be able to scold the crew member for inappropriate service as vice president, but aviation law clearly states that it is the captain who supervises the flight crew,” the newspaper said in the editorial.
The aircraft had already left the gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport for takeoff when the incident happened. It took no more than 2 minutes to return to the gate to deplane the crew member, according to the airline. The flight was 11 minutes late when it arrived in Seoul Dec. 6.
Korean Air, which yesterday apologized to passengers for the inconvenience caused, noted the plane was less than 10 meters (33 feet) from the gate at JFK when the decision to return was made. The Airbus A380 had about 250 passengers and 20 cabin crew.

Investigation

South Korea’s Transport Ministry said yesterday it was investigating reports by Yonhap News and YTN about a Korean Air vice president ordering a crew member to deplane, according to an e-mailed statement that didn’t mention either Cho or the specific incident. Action will be taken against the carrier if it flouted any regulations, the ministry said.
Cho, who went to Cornell University, joined South Korea’s largest carrier in 1999, according to a biography posted on the website of Singapore’s Nanyang Business School. She is a member of the school’s advisory board. Cho managed Korean Air’s catering and in-flight sales business, cabin service and hotel business divisions.
Cho and Korean Air executives should take responsibility for the incident and not blame the cabin crew, the airline’s pilots union said on their website today.
“Cho should be held responsible because she had used her authority to have the pilot return the plane to the gate,” the union said in the statement. “Cho and the management has damaged the company’s reputation.”
Her father is also chairman of the Hanjin Group of companies that includes Korean Air, Hanjin Shipping Co. (117930) and Hanjin Transportation Co. He’s also the president of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics organizing committee. Chairman Cho also apologized for the incident, Asia Economic Daily reported today.