With the integration of low-cost carriers (LCCs) affiliated with Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines—Jin Air, AIR BUSAN, and AIR SEOUL—approaching, a wage gap is emerging as an issue. AIR BUSAN's wage talks recently broke down for good, and the union says management promised wages at the Jin Air level and should honor that. Management says it never pledged a wage hike.
According to the airline industry on the 27th, the AIR BUSAN Pilots' Labor Union decided on the 13th that the 2025 wage talks had collapsed and immediately filed for mediation with the Busan Regional Labor Relations Commission (Jinowi). The AIR BUSAN pilots' union (the union) holds representational status and is also responsible for wage negotiations for passenger and ground staff. The union proposed a 13% wage increase for 2025, while management proposed 3.7%.
A AIR BUSAN union official said, "We held a total of seven bargaining sessions starting in late November last year, but management's position did not change," and added, "AIR BUSAN workers' wages are at 82% of Jin Air's level."
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system, as of the end of June last year, AIR BUSAN employees' average pay (January–June) was 36 million won, 81.8% of Jin Air's (44 million won). As of the end of December 2024, the annual average pay was 64 million won at AIR BUSAN, 85.3% of Jin Air's (75 million won).
The union says management promised during the April wage talks last year that it would pay the same wages as Jin Air by the first quarter of 2027, the point of integration, through step-by-step increases in 2025 and 2026.
Jin Air decided to raise wages by 3.0% in 2025. AIR BUSAN union leader Nam I-hoon said, "If management's rate is applied, the wage gap with Jin Air would narrow by only 0.7%," and added, "The minutes at the time show management said it would raise the rate in light of the wage gap and that the same wages could apply at the time of integration."
Management says it never promised a wage hike. It also views the union's requested increase (13%) as excessive compared with the rates at Korean Air Lines, Asiana Airlines, and Jin Air (around 3%).
An AIR BUSAN official said, "There is no fact that we specifically fixed and guaranteed a level of wage increase," and added, "The union is currently demanding a rate more than four times that of the acquiring corporations."
The union is concerned about wage discrimination after the integration. Since there is no guarantee of securing bargaining rights after integration, its position is that the wage issue should be resolved before integration. The union has also left open the possibility of a work-to-rule action during the Lunar New Year holiday. If mediation by the Jinowi also breaks down, it plans to hold a strike ballot among union members, secure the right to strike, and launch a walkout.
However, the air transport business, along with rail and hospitals, is designated as an essential public-interest workplace and cannot stage a full strike. Even during a strike, aviation workers must deploy essential personnel and maintain minimum operation rates by route.
In the airline industry, with the launch of the integrated Korean Air Lines–Asiana Airlines carrier expected at the end of this year, attention is focused on AIR BUSAN's breakdown in wage talks. If wage negotiations go poorly during the LCC integration process, it could fuel anxiety among employees of Asiana Airlines, the acquired company. Chairman Cho Won-tae has been emphasizing "chemical bonding" day after day.
Meanwhile, Jin Air plans to complete its integration with AIR BUSAN and AIR SEOUL in the first quarter of next year. Jin Air CEO Park Byung-Ryool said at Jin Air's 18th anniversary event on the 22nd that the company would complete the physical combination of the three this year and focus on the chemical bonding of members.