Asiana Airlines has ended new hiring. With the integration with Korean Air Lines scheduled for the end of this year, the move is seen as focusing on the merger rather than staffing or expansion.
According to the aviation industry on the 13th, Asiana Airlines recently decided not to hire new staff and shut down its recruitment page.
Asiana Airlines had steadily added personnel even after the merger approval with Korean Air Lines at the end of 2024, but it has closed the door on hiring about seven months before the merger date.
Asiana Airlines has continued to reduce its headcount due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and management difficulties. As of the end of last year, the number of employees was 7,479, down 18% from 2019.
However, to respond to the recovery in air travel demand, the company conducted new hiring through last year for positions such as cabin crew and maintenance, and intermittent hiring took place in other roles based on the need to fill vacancies.
However, considering the probation period and training for new hires, the company judged that adding staff would be difficult with the merger slated for the end of this year and is moving to focus on integration.
For the organizational integration of Asiana Airlines and Korean Air Lines, the integrated airline's seniority system is seen as the biggest issue. That is because the two companies have different hiring standards and workforce management methods.
Crew positions are cited as a prime example. For flight crew (pilots), Korean Air Lines requires 1,000 flight hours to hire a first officer, while Asiana Airlines requires 300 hours, a shorter threshold.
For cabin crew as well, the probation period at Korean Air Lines is two years, but Asiana Airlines has operated a one-year probation period.
Because of this, Korean Air Lines is facing difficulties in establishing a seniority system for each job category after the integration. For now, the Korean Air Lines pilots' union is pushing to secure the right to strike, demanding that the seniority system be included as a bargaining item.
Korean Air Lines had 18,318 employees as of last year, and the headcount will reach 25,000 after the merger. For this reason, the industry views it as difficult to establish a seniority system without internal friction.
An aviation industry official said, "The aviation industry is currently reducing flights due to high oil prices, and Asiana Airlines also has to prepare for integration, so it appears to have ended hiring to focus on that."