Korean Air official quits role after nuts service incident

Wednesday, 10 December 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SEOUL (Reuters): A Korean Air Lines Co executive, whose dismay over the way she was served macadamia nuts led to a plane returning to its gate in order to expel the cabin crew chief, has stepped down as head of in-flight service, the airline said on Tuesday. Korean Air apologised for Friday’s incident at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in which Heather Cho, a Vice President of the airline, took issue with a crew member for substandard service.

However, Cho, the 40-year-old daughter of the airline’s Chairman, Cho Yang-ho, will remain a Vice President with the South Korean flag carrier, the airline said late on Tuesday. The incident aboard an Airbus A380 jumbo jet that had been pushed back from its gate bound for Incheon, near Seoul, provoked outrage in South Korea when it was reported on Monday. “I am sorry to our customers and the Korean people that I unintentionally caused social uproar and I ask forgiveness from anyone who has been hurt by me,” a company official, speaking to Reuters by telephone, quoted Heather Cho as saying late on Tuesday.