The head of Korean Air's in-cabin services resigned on Tuesday after going nuts over the way she was served macadamia nuts in a flight from New York to Incheon.

The plane, where Korean Air vice president Heather Cho was seated in first class, returned to its gate to expel the cabin crew chief for failing to serve Cho macadamia nuts on a plate instead of in a bag.

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Korean Air apologized for Friday's incident at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The flight arrived in Incheon 11 minutes behind schedule.

However, 40-year-old Cho, a daughter of the airline's chairman Cho Yang-ho, will remain a vice president with the South Korean airline, the company said.

An industry official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Cho put a flight attendant to task for handing her macadamia nuts in a bag, not on a dish.

The official added Cho called the cabin crew chief to see if the flight attendant was following in-flight service procedures, and the crew chief failed to answer promptly.

Cho "took issue with the cabin crew chief's qualifications," according to the account, and the pilot returned the aircraft to its gate to deplane the crew chief, the airline said.

An airline official quoted Cho as saying she is apologizing to customers and to the Korean public for unwittingly causing social uproar and asked forgiveness from people who were hurt in the incident.

The airline said on Monday that although the company exec was head of in-flight service, her behavior was "excessive" because the plane had to be returned to the gate in a non-emergency situation.

Aviation authorities in South Korea said on Monday they are investigating the incident.

Cho is one of Korean Air chairman and CEO Cho Yang-ho's three children, who hold executive positions with the airline. 

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