Korean Air apologizes, forces exec to step down over macadamia case

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 to expel the cabin crew chief, has stepped down as head of in-flight service, the airline said on Tuesday.

Korean Air apologized 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.

"I take responsibility for the incident," the official quoted her as saying.

The airline said late on Monday that although Cho was responsible for supervising in-flight service, it was "excessive" that the plane was returned to the gate to expel a crew member in a non-emergency situation.

Cho was seated in first-class when she took issue with a flight attendant who handed her macadamia nuts in a bag, not on a dish, according to an industry official briefed on the matter, who declined to be identified.