La On 13 February, the European Commission announced its agreement to the merger of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines.
This decision follows that of the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) on 31 January this year. The latter approved the integration of Asiana into Korean Air on condition that competition was preserved.
The JFTC estimated that there would be monopoly the Korean Air/Asiana group and its low-cost subsidiaries (Air Busan, Air Seoul and Jin Air) on 7 lines. Korean Air has confirmed that it will sell some of its slots from Seoul to Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka and Sapporo and from Pusan to Fukuoka, Osaka and Sapporo..
T'way Air to replace Asiana in Paris
14 authorities had to approve the merger. The 13th to do so is the European Commission. Here again, Korean Air undertakes to help set up a new Korean carrier to compete with it.
The carrier will support the launch by Korean carrier T'way Air of routes from Seoul to Barcelona, Frankfurt, Paris and Rome.. The new carrier is due to inaugurate some of its new routes in the second half of 2024. By 2022, passenger numbers on the France-Korea route will have risen to 320,000.. A fall of 53.5% compared with 2019...
Korean Air has also announced that it will suspend all cargo activities operated by Asiana in Europe.
All that remains now is to convince the American authorities the merits of the merger. The Korea/USA route is the last major market for Korean Air and Asiana. But the green light from the American authorities could be a long time coming. For one thing, the Biden administration has so far been rather hostile to mergers in air transport. But the US elections are just around the corner!
