Asiana Airlines — South Korea’s second full-service carrier, merging into Korean Air on 17 December 2026.
Asiana Airlines was founded in 1988 and flies from Incheon International Airport for international routes and Gimpo for domestic. Its passenger fleet of 67 aircraft is built around widebodies — A350, A330 and B777 — alongside the A321 family, serving 90 international and 14 domestic routes. It has been a Star Alliance member since 2003. That era is ending: Korean Air completed its acquisition in December 2024, and Asiana merges into Korean Air on 17 December 2026, leaving Star Alliance the day before and joining SkyTeam on the day itself, when the Asiana Club programme also closes. The cargo division was sold to Air Incheon as an antitrust remedy. For a pilot the question is no longer what Asiana pays, but which seat you hold inside the combined Korean Air.
Reference values based on public disclosure. The captain / first officer split is not published, so these are apportioned from a pilot-wide average under the assumptions stated below. Confirm exact terms with the airline.
| Position | Annual range | Reference average | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Captain Mostly international (A350 / A330 / B777) |
¥16.5M–¥24.5M |
¥21.8M | Paid in KRW, pre-tax |
| First Officer International and domestic |
¥8.4M–¥12.7M |
¥11.1M | Apportioned estimate |
The only published figure is airline-wide: in 2023 Asiana had 1,397 flight crew and a total flight-crew payroll of ₩208.6 billion — ₩149.36 million per pilot, about ¥16.4M at ₩1 = ¥0.11. The captain / first officer split is not published, so the figures above assume a 50:50 headcount split and the same captain-to-first-officer ratio as Korean Air (1.96). The 7.5% base-pay rise provisionally agreed in April 2024 is not added on top. Source: Energy Economy Daily (에너지경제신문), 29 April 2024.
Incheon is the international hub, with 90 routes across East and Southeast Asia, North America, Europe and Oceania, plus 14 domestic routes centred on Gimpo and Jeju. Some international routes have already been transferred to other carriers as an antitrust remedy for the merger.
Airbus A321-200, A321neo, A330-300, A350-900 and A380-800, plus the Boeing 777-200ER — 67 passenger aircraft in total. Asiana is one of the few Asian operators still flying the A380. The freighters left with the cargo division, sold to Air Incheon.
Asiana runs its own ab-initio cadet scheme. Entry requires a bachelor’s degree, TOEIC 800 and TOEIC Speaking level 5 or above; selection runs documents → aptitude test → first interview including an English oral → two medical examinations → executive interview.
A mostly widebody fleet. After the merger, training is expected to consolidate into Korean Air’s system.
Proficiency and line checks to the standards of South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT).
Time to upgrade is not published, and after the merger it depends on how the two seniority lists are combined — so nothing definite can be said today.
In April 2024 the union and management provisionally agreed a 7.5% base-pay rise and a doubling of the safety incentive. The pay table itself is not published.
Salaries are paid in Korean won. South Korea taxes income, so take-home differs fundamentally from the tax-free Gulf carriers.
A350, A330, A380 and B777 make up most of the fleet, so long-haul hours build quickly.
Discounted travel across the alliance. On the merger date this moves from Star Alliance to SkyTeam.
Asiana merges into Korean Air on 17 December 2026. How the two sets of terms will be combined has not been published.
Paid annual leave under the South Korean Labour Standards Act, scaled by length of service.
Status: No current Asiana-branded pilot recruitment could be confirmed; hiring is consolidating into Korean Air ahead of the merger.
Asiana stops operating as an independent airline on 17 December 2026, when it merges into Korean Air. If you are applying as a pilot, check the current terms on Korean Air’s recruitment portal, which is where hiring is consolidating.
| Airline | Captain (range) | First Officer | Income Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asiana Airlines 🇰🇷 | ¥16.5M–¥24.5M | ¥8.4M–¥12.7M | Income tax applies |
| ANA 🇯🇵 | ¥22M–¥35M | ¥14M–¥21M | ~33% (Japan) |
| JAL 🇯🇵 | ¥22M–¥35M | ¥14M–¥21M | ~33% (Japan) |
* Salary figures are SSOT reference values, pre-tax. ANA / JAL are shown as the Japan baseline. The Asiana figures are apportioned estimates, not a published pay scale. Both South Korea and Japan tax pilot income.
Asiana Airlines captains are estimated at about ¥21.8M a year (range ¥16.5M–¥24.5M), before tax. This is not a published figure: Asiana discloses only a pilot-wide average — ₩149.36 million per head in 2023 across 1,397 flight crew — so the captain figure is apportioned from it, assuming a 50:50 captain/first-officer headcount split and Korean Air's 1.96 pay ratio between the two seats.
Asiana Airlines first officers are estimated at about ¥11.1M a year (range ¥8.4M–¥12.7M), before tax, apportioned from the same pilot-wide average. Asiana publishes no rank-by-rank pay scale, and the pilots' union does not publish one either, so treat this as an estimate rather than a rate.
Asiana Airlines merges into Korean Air on 17 December 2026. It leaves Star Alliance on 16 December, joins SkyTeam on the 17th, and the Asiana Club programme closes the same day. Korean Air completed the acquisition in December 2024; the cargo division was already sold to Air Incheon as an antitrust remedy. How the two seniority lists and the two sets of terms will be combined has not been published, which is the single biggest unknown for anyone joining now.
Asiana Airlines captains are estimated at ¥21.8M against ¥27M at ANA and JAL, and first officers ¥11.1M against ¥18M. All figures are gross, before income tax, and both South Korea and Japan tax pilot income. The Japanese figures come from published data; the Asiana ones are apportioned estimates, so the gap is indicative rather than exact.
Dividing the annual average by 12, Asiana Airlines captains earn about ¥1.82M a month and first officers about ¥0.93M. What actually lands each month moves with block hours flown, and where an annual bonus is paid the regular monthly figure sits lower with a spike in the bonus month.
Asiana Airlines first officers average ¥11.1M and captains ¥21.8M — a step of about ¥10.7M, or roughly 2.0×. The full range runs ¥8.4M to ¥24.5M, and where you sit inside it is set by seniority, type rating and the routes you fly. The seniority table on this page breaks the same range into career stages.
Every figure on this page is gross, before income tax. Captains average ¥21.8M and first officers ¥11.1M pre-tax, and income tax, social insurance and any local levies come out of that. Take-home depends on where you are resident and on your own deductions, so no single percentage applies. Airlines based in countries with no personal income tax — the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia — leave more of the same gross figure in your hand.
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Pilot salary in South Korea 2 airlines · captain avg ¥2,320万