[Courtesy of Jeju Air]
SEOUL -- South Korea's top budget carrier Jeju Air is gaining popularity for unconventionality to create a new and liberal culture in the cabin as the reputation and brand value of Korean Air crashed due to misconduct and illegal activities by its ruling family.
Jeju Air, controlled by Aekyung, a mid-sized business group specializing in home, health, and beauty care products for daily use, has seen dramatic growth to be South Korea's third-largest airliner running regular routes to 13 countries since it opened its service in 2006.
Last year, Jeju Air's operating profit soared 74 percent on-year to 101.3 billion won (94.1 million US dollars) and its revenue was up 33.3 percent to 996.3 billion won. Net profit gained 45.5 percent to 77.1 billion won.
"Without resting on our current success, we will continue to pioneer and innovate to set a new standard for next century. As a trendsetter, we are committed to delivering products and services that create values for our society," he said.
The message was well noted in Jeju Air's decision on Tuesday to allow flight attendants to wear glasses and decorate their fingernails with nail art paintings. From now, Jeju Air stewardesses can wear glasses but have to carry contact lenses or a spare pair of glasses as back-ups. They can wear multi-colored nail arts without attachments such as cubic zirconia decorations.
[Courtesy of Jeju Air]
Although many airline companies allow their cabin crew to wear glasses, Korean Air and Asiana, the country's two leading flag carriers, implicitly prohibit them and allow only contact lenses. Wearing nail arts is considered an extravagance as the two flag carriers require their crew to maintain tidy uniformed appearances and wear manicures of single low profile colors.
"Jeju Air's mission is to make travelers happy. In order to do so, we thought it was necessary to please our cabin crew first," Kim Tae-young, a Jeju Air public relations manager, told Aju News, adding the company would not strictly limit the liberty of expressing themselves.
"They were delighted to hear our decision and welcomed the change," Kim said, adding Jeju Air is trying its best to provide a happy and pleasant workplace.
Jeju Air also came to a pure coincidental event when two pilots and four cabin crew members on Jeju Air's flight 7C2205 from Incheon to Bangkok last week were all females. The unexpected event was a very rare scene in South Korea's pilot society which still remains male-centered.
"This will make the cabin crew feel better about their workplace!" Happ, a user from South Korea's largest web-portal Naver, said. Another user xxru urged other airlines to follow suit: "Other carriers should watch and learn! Go! Jeju Air!"
Jeju Air with its total assets standing at about 799.8 billion won is now supported by loyal clients and a positive consumer perception that helped the airliner post an average annual growth of 91 percent during its first five years of operation.
[Courtesy of Korean Air]
Many South Koreans compare Jeju Air's corporate ethics to those of Korean Air, which lost its prestige due to the arrogant behavior of Cho Hyun-min, the youngest daughter of Hanjin Group patriarch Cho Yang-ho, and a series of revelations by whistle-blowers about misconducts and illegal acts by the ruling family.
Cho's family was accused of bringing in foreign luxury goods without paying duties through a legitimate loophole at airports. Korean Air headquarters and other offices have been raided by police and customs authorities.
The Korean Air scandal pulled Cho Hyun-ah, the elder sister, back to public attention. She was heavily criticized for her "nut rage" tantrum which took place in December 2014. Hyun-ah became enraged when a flight attendant served her macadamia nuts in a bag, rather than on a plate, on board a flight from New York that was forced back to the gate while taxiing to the runway.
The two daughters lost their posts in Korean Air and other Hanjin Group units. However, public fury mounted further Monday when a video showing an old lady purported to be Lee Myung-hee, the 69-year-old wife of Cho Yang-ho, was made public by an insider. The woman was seen shouting at workers and violently pushing them around on top of a hotel building which was under construction in 2014.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
