Promotion of Korean Air scions written in clouds

From left : Walter Cho, Heather Cho and Emily Cho

All three children of Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho were promoted in the company’s annual promotions yesterday, as it seems bent on shoring up its family-run management system.

Cho’s eldest son Cho Won-tae (who uses the English name Walter) and eldest daughter Cho Hyun-ah (Heather) were named executive vice presidents of the nation’s largest airline. They were both moved up to senior vice president in early 2010.

Hyun-min (Emily), the chairman’s second daughter, was named managing vice president.

“It’s long been assumed in the industry that the third generation of the family would take over managing the company as all three have been slowly working their way up,” said Eom Kyeong-ah, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities. “As the promotions were all expected, I don’t think there will be any major changes to the company’s business projects.”

Eom said Won-tae may stand neck and neck with his sister right now but is likely to move into a more senior role later.

“The company uses him more for media and public relations work, while [Hyun-ah] does not appear so often,” Eom said.

Korean Air promoted 53 people in total.

“We’ve focused on rewarding [leaders of] teams that have enhanced the company’s global presence,” it said in a release.

“We chose people who have created sustainable future growth momentum through risk management, and by adopting innovative business strategies, as well as those who have developed the world’s top in-flight meals and initiated change within the company by encouraging communication.”

The company also promoted more female managers this year, it said.

“We hope they encourage our customer service teams to be even more polite and respectful, so we can continue to forge our role as a top global airline,” it said.

By Lee Sun-min [summerlee@joongang.co.kr]