AIRZETA Co. (formerly Air Incheon) belatedly reached a deal with labor on last year's wage and collective bargaining agreement. AIRZETA Co. is a newly launched airline formed after Air Incheon acquired the cargo division of Asiana Airlines. Last year, a pilots' union made up of former Asiana Airlines pilots opposed the acquisition and waged a legal fight, intensifying labor-management conflict. With the conclusion of the wage and collective agreement, stable operations are now in sight.
According to the aviation industry on the 23rd, AIRZETA Co. on the 21st reached a deal on last year's wage and collective agreement with the Incheon branch of Asiana Airlines (APU) and held a signing ceremony. The draft agreement was tentatively agreed to on the 5th and was finalized with 98.58% approval in a vote of APU members held from the 14th to the 20th. APU is a union led by former Asiana Airlines pilots, with 214 members.
AIRZETA Co. also concluded talks early this month with the white-collar union on last year's wage and collective agreement. During the talks, unions led by employees from Asiana Airlines accepted the average wage increase rate of 3.7% that had been under discussion with Asiana Airlines. When AIRZETA Co. launched in August last year, the company also continued benefits such as tuition support for employees' children that existing Asiana Airlines employees had received.
However, because it is difficult to maintain benefits such as airline tickets that former Asiana Airlines employees enjoyed, labor and management agreed to continue discussions on specific welfare items. Unlike Asiana Airlines, AIRZETA Co., a cargo-only carrier, does not operate passenger aircraft, making it difficult to offer employee travel tickets.
In the end, with the company accepting a significant portion of the union's demands, the wage and collective bargaining talks are wrapping up without incident. AIRZETA Co. also expects to reach an amicable agreement with the pilots' union (AZPU) led by former Air Incheon pilots. The company plans to close the pay gap between former Air Incheon pilots and Asiana Airlines pilots. AZPU has about 50 members.
Following last year, AIRZETA Co. will again significantly raise pay for former Air Incheon pilots this year and align the pay scale for all pilots as of Apr. 1.
The reason AIRZETA Co.'s wage and collective agreement carried over into the new year is that labor and management first decided to prioritize establishing pilot seniority (hierarchy based on intake cohort, career, and years of service). To that end, since September last year, AIRZETA Co.'s flight operations division, APU, and AZPU formed a seniority task force (TF), held multiple meetings, and finalized a new seniority list based on criteria such as flight hours.
In the pilot group, seniority determines not only the order of captain promotion but also priority in choosing aircraft type, routes, and work schedules. After the acquisition of Asiana Airlines' cargo division, the single-type B737 fleet expanded to B747 and B767, and pilot staffing increased significantly, so seniority was established first in light of these changes.
An AIRZETA Co. official said, "Although it was done in two phases, we are set to raise wages by an unprecedented margin to align the pay scale, and most welfare benefits were also matched to Asiana Airlines," adding, "We determined that deterioration of working conditions could not occur."
Lee Hwi-young, a professor of aviation management at Inha Technical College, said, "As AIRZETA Co.'s status shifted to a large cargo carrier through the acquisition of Asiana Airlines' cargo division, retaining human resources would have been a key task to secure a matching network and build sales capabilities," adding, "Even with large-scale investment, completing the chemical integration was something that had to be done."