Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE
Korean Air (KAL) is not accepting any of the 29 resignations submitted by senior executives in the wake of its latest fatal accident. This fits the pattern of previous KAL accidents, where contrite senior executives offered their resignations en masse, but few were accepted.
KAL's new president and chief executive Shim Yi-Taek, however, has initiated changes "to ensure that safety is the number one priority". Among the new measures is a decision to extend the stay of a team of safety advisors from Delta Air Lines "until such a time as mutually agreed".
Kim Sang-Rok has stepped down as head of flight operations, "accepting responsibility for the airline's recent accidents", but remains as managing vice-president. He is to be replaced by managing vice-president Ko Myung-Joon, who is joined by Chung Sung-Jin as team manager of flight operations. Chung's predecessor has moved to the safety and security department.
The airline says it has reshuffled 25 other executives into "appointments focused on ensuring aviation experience and specialisation in key positions". The only true resignation has been that of former chairman and KAL founder Cho Choong-Hoon, which was announced immediately following the 15 April crash of a Boeing MD-11 freighter at Shanghai (Flight International, 28 April-4 May).
Cho took "full responsibility" for the airline's recent safety record, and was replaced by his son, former KAL president and chief executive Cho Yang-Ho.
The airline is also introducing a Flight Watch traffic monitoring system, which will display airport conditions and restrictions to KAL flight operations personnel. It will also display aircraft locations, altitude and speed at the KAL flight operations centre, and will sound an alert following any deviations from normal flight patterns. The $12 million system will be ready by December.
The airline will also increase the required flight hours to qualify for the position of captain from 3,000h to at least 4,000h.
Delta and Air Canada suspended their side of codeshare agreements with KAL following the MD-11 crash - the airlines are no longer putting their passengers on KAL flights, but still accept KAL passengers. Airline sources say Delta was preparing to do this even before the last crash. KAL has suffered 12 serious accidents since 1990.
Source: Flight International
