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| A Korean Air pilot hands control sticks, while a co-pilot looks on. / Courtesy of Korean Air |
By Jun Ji-hye
Airline pilots are suffering a bitter blow, with some of them having already lost their jobs, as air carriers have been rushing to cut manpower to reduce costs amid the global COVID-19 pandemic that has seen the cancellation of almost all international flights.
Those who have spent a lot of money on studying and training to become pilots are also facing growing uncertainty about their future as airlines, which are focusing on workforce reductions to overcome deepening financial crises, have no plans to recruit new people for some time.
Korean budget airline Eastar Jet, which halted all services March 24, notified 80 first-year and second-year co-pilots of the termination of their employment contracts, March 30. The company also plans to lay off 350 more employees, accounting for 20 percent of its entire workforce, by the end of next month.
"Management and labor reached a consensus that manpower restructuring was an inevitable choice," an Eastar Jet official said.
Korean Air, the nation's top flag carrier, put its 390 non-Korean pilots on three months of unpaid leave starting from April 1 as part of its self-rescue efforts.
Pilots at the nation's second-largest carrier, Asiana Airlines, agreed to a 50 percent pay cut during talks between management and their union in an effort to share the burden triggered by the outbreak of the contagious disease.
Previously, many Korean pilots had been scouted by foreign air carriers including companies in China where the airline industry was rapidly expanding, but industry officials said it has now become almost impossible for them to join foreign firms amid the pandemic.
COVID-19 has been frustrating budding pilots as well because Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, as well as Jin Air and other budget carriers, have no plans to recruit new staff.
People wanting to be pilots generally spend more than 100 million won ($82,000) to study and train for two to three years.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the number of people having a commercial pilot's license increased to 895 in 2019 from 781 in 2017, while openings in the field have been on a continual decline.
"There will be no demand for pilots by airlines for the time being," an official from one air carrier said.
