Korean Air offers voluntary retirement to employees

Korean Air, Korea’s national flag carrier, offered its employees a voluntary retirement program on Wednesday as the company struggles with a growing deficit.

The scheme applies to employees aged 50 or older or those who have worked for the company for more than 15 years, a company spokesperson said. Pilots, flight attendants, engineers and researchers, as well as employees at overseas branches, are not subject to the plan.

Korean Air, which has a total workforce of 18,000, said it will take applications until Dec. 23 and approve resignations by the end of the month.

Those who apply for the program will be given a retirement allowance, cash compensation equivalent to two months’ salary and education fees paid for their children for up to four years after retirement.

This is Korean Air’s first voluntary retirement since 2013, when 110 employees accepted a similar offer.

The proposal comes after the country’s biggest full-service carrier reduced the number of executives to 79 from 108.

In a meeting with Korean correspondents in New York last month, Korean Air Chairman Cho Won-tae hinted the company may sell non-core assets to focus on its air transportation, aircraft parts manufacturing, hotel and resort businesses.

Yonhap