Korean Air pilots urge end to the hiring of foreigner pilots

SEOUL, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- The pilot union of Korean Air Line Co., South Korea's largest air carrier, asked the company Tuesday to stop hiring foreign pilots, claiming that the practice violates the country's labor law.
"The company must abolish the practice of illegal hiring of foreign pilots for good and create jobs for local pilot aspirants," the union said in a statement adopted at a protest rally.
The airline's pilot union filed a complaint with the Ministry of Employment and Labor last December, arguing that hiring of foreign pilots on a temporary basis through referral agencies is unlawful and violates a government act aimed at protecting "dispatched" workers.
Last month, the ministry ruled illegal such a hiring practice by Korean Air and referred the case to prosecutors for investigation.
Currently, Korean Air has about 2,500 pilots, of whom 390 are foreigners. Another major market player, Asiana Airlines Inc., has 130 foreign pilots out of its total 1,170 pilots.
Korean Air insists that such a hiring practice is unavoidable because it can't find enough experienced local flight crews. If the practice is banned, it could cause serious disruptions to flight schedules, it said.
According to airline officials, South Korea needs at least 400 new pilots a year but only 250 are coming into the market.
To help ease the problem, the Seoul government set up an aviation school in 2010 to train new pilots.