SEOUL, July 16 (Yonhap) — Asiana Airlines Inc. canceled one international roundtrip flight Sunday, days after its unionized pilots announced plans to launch a strike next week, officials said.
South Korea’s second-largest air carrier notified passengers of the cancellation of the Incheon-Ho Chi Minh City flight that had been scheduled to depart from Incheon International Airport at 7:35 a.m. and arrive in the Vietnamese city at 11:05 a.m., according to the officials.
A total of 125 passengers were about to board the plane before the cancellation.
As a result, the return flight, set to take off at 7:25 p.m. from Ho Chi Minh City, was also called off.
“We canceled the flights because we couldn’t recruit a flight crew due to the pilots’ collective action,” an Asiana Airlines official said.
On Friday, unionized pilots at Asiana Airlines announced that they will go on strike beginning July 24 after failing to reach an agreement with management on a pay increase.
At the same time, they have carried out a work-to-rule protest since last month, prompting eight domestic flight cancellations and 54 international and domestic delays so far.
brk@yna.co.kr
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