A South Korean court has sentenced the daughter of the chairman of Korean Air to one year in prison for breaking aviation law in the so-called nut rage case.

Heather Cho, daughter of Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho and the former head of in-flight service, was found guilty of having violated the law by ordering the plane to return to the gate after it started to taxi on December 5 last year.

Prosecutors sought a three-year prison term if she was convicted of breaking aviation law and another charge.

Cho had demanded the crew chief be removed from the flight at John F Kennedy airport in New York after a flight attendant served her macadamia nuts in a bag, not on a dish.

The plane, already moving to taxi, returned to the gate.

Cho later resigned from her posts at the airline and subsidiaries in the face of public anger over her behaviour.

Cho's lawyers told the court at a previous hearing that she felt sorry for her action and she did not merit legal punishment.

Heather Cho is the oldest of Cho Yang-ho's three children. Her siblings are also executives with the airline.

She has been in detention since December 30.

The nut rage incident, as it has become known, has stirred public outrage and ridicule in South Korea and raised questions about the power of the country's "chaebol" conglomerates.

ABC/Wires