Korean Air Soars... Employees Enter Era of Average Annual Salary of 100 Million Won

Last Year 101.04 Million Won... 13% Increase YoY
Gap Widens with Asiana Airlines... Potential Merger Controversy

The average annual salary of Korean Air employees has surpassed 100 million won for the first time. The gap with Asiana Airlines, ranked second, is widening further, raising concerns that this could become another source of conflict in future corporate mergers.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 14th, Korean Air's average employee salary for 2023 was recorded at 101.04 million won. This marks a 12.8% increase from 89.56 million won the previous year, entering the era of an average salary exceeding 100 million won for the first time. Although male employees in the air transportation business sector recorded a salary of 102.96 million won in 2018, this is the first time the overall average employee salary has exceeded 100 million won. Compared to 68.19 million won in 2020, when the company was hit hard by COVID-19, this represents a 48.2% increase. The rapid recovery in performance after experiencing COVID-19 had a significant impact.

The wage increase rate for Korean Air executives was even steeper. Last year, the average total compensation for 13 executives was 505.94 million won, nearly double the 260.55 million won in 2020. However, the rise in executive pay appears to have been largely influenced by Chairman Cho Won-tae of the Hanjin Group.

Chairman Cho received a total of 3.91715 billion won last year from Korean Air, where he serves as CEO, including a salary of 3.27755 billion won and a bonus of 639.6 million won. His annual salary increased by 64% compared to the previous year. His pay rose nearly five times faster than that of employees over the course of a year. Compared to 2020, when COVID-19 was at its peak, it increased by 2.26 times. Chairman Cho also received a total of 4.24 billion won from Hanjin KAL last year, including a salary of 3.675 billion won and a bonus of 565 million won. His total annual salary amounts to 8.15703 billion won, which is 80 times the average employee salary.

As the wage gap with employees of Asiana Airlines, the industry's second-largest carrier, widens, there are forecasts that this could become a contentious issue during the merger process. Asiana Airlines' average employee salary in 2022 was 62.34 million won. It has yet to recover to the pre-COVID-19 level of around 65 million won in 2019. Given the slow pace of wage increases, the gap with Korean Air, which surpassed an average salary of 100 million won last year, is expected to widen further. An industry insider said, "Asiana Airlines employees are increasingly anxious about job security and inevitably concerned about discrimination," adding, "Employee treatment for both companies could become a major issue during the merger process."

Korean Air Maintenance Headquarters technicians Jeongtae Lee and Donggeun Yoo are inspecting a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on the 26th at the Korean Air aircraft maintenance hangar in Jung-gu, Incheon, to achieve the important value of safe aircraft operation. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@