The head of Korean Air, who just resigned as the chief organizer of the 2018 Winter Olympics, was sued on Wednesday by his carrier's pilots for allegedly demeaning their work.

The airline's pilot union filed a defamation lawsuit with the Seoul district court against Cho Yang-ho over a Facebook posting the chairman made in March, a Korean Air spokesman said.

Responding to a Korean Air pilot who backed a pay rise demand by detailing the complex preflight checks required of the cockpit crew, Cho posted that flying a modern passenger plane on autopilot was "easier than driving a car".