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| ▲ This undated file photo shows airplanes of Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc. at Incheon International Airport, the main gateway of South Korea. (Yonhap) |
regulator-Korean Air-Asiana deal
Regulator expected to announce whether to OK Korean Air-Asiana deal next week
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's antitrust regulator is expected to announce next week whether to approve a deal by Korean Air Lines Co., the country's biggest carrier, to buy the debt-ridden Asiana Airlines Inc.
Since January last year, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has been reviewing Korean Air's deal to buy a 63.88 percent stake in its smaller rival Asiana Airlines. The deal, valued at some 1.8 trillion won (US$1.5 billion), was inked in November 2020.
The FTC is widely expected to give conditional approval over monopoly concerns as it held a deliberation session to decide whether to approve the deal Wednesday.
The FTC judged in a review report the potential combination of the two airlines is expected to hamper competition in a considerable number of flight routes.
In the report, the FTC said the two full-service carriers should return some take-off or landing slots at airports and readjust flight licenses in certain routes should Korean Air win the approval.
It also said the two carriers will be restricted from hiking flight fare and banned from reducing flight supply and services until they implement such conditions.
Korean Air reviewed the FTC's report for the past three weeks and delivered its opinions to the commission in late January.
If approved, the takeover is expected to reshape the country's airline sector that has been reeling from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But critics said the conditions put forward by the regulator for approval still appear to fall short of addressing a monopoly in the country's airline industry.
In January last year, Korean Air asked antitrust regulators of 14 other countries, including the United States, the European Union and China, for the review of its combination with Asiana. It has received approval from eight countries so far, including Singapore, Turkey and Vietnam.
If the merger deal is approved, Korean Air, currently the world's 18th-largest carrier by fleet, is expected to become the world's 10th-biggest airline.
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