The death of the KAL contract
Well, it’s a sad day for a bunch of KAL guys. The airline appears to be holding the expat pilots prisoner and making them choose between their job and their families. You can go home about once a year - or quit, or so it seems.
What was once a great commuting contract is now, de facto, dead. The expat force has been cut to close to 200 and most will not stay under the current conditions. Once asked to stay until quarantine restrictions end - is now stay until we tell you you’re allowed to commute. It feels all very authoritarian, almost like China has taken over KAL.
What a shame. But I guess it couldn’t come at a better time for the pilots. The world pilot shortage is rearing it’s head more and more each week and within a few months, there should be offers a plenty. In fact, the days of airline management being in a power position are over. Even if we do see a recession this year or next, the amount of retirements and the lack of pilots in the woodwork, might actually make this a desirable career again. Who will suffer the most? Asian and Middle East airlines, and airlines that operate under the punishment-culture ethos. Time has moved on, let’s see if they can move with it.
Let’s hope cooler heads prevail and KAL opens their eyes to the new reality. It would(n’t) be a shame to see lines of wide bodies still parked on the ramps of ICN/GMP, giving the chairman a great, but expensive, view with his morning coffee - all the while costing his airline hundreds of millions of dollars a year because of simple human mismanagement.