The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has approved Korean Air's business merger with Asiana Airlines. This is the 12th approval received for the merger, with Korean Air still requiring approval from the European Union (EU) and the US. Korean Air is looking to obtain approval at ""the earliest opportunity.""
Korean Air was asked to submit remedies on select routes between Korea and Japan where the combined market share of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, along with their subsidiaries, would limit competition.
A Korean Air spokesperson in a press release said: ""The JFTC concluded that five of the 12 overlapping routes on the network were not subject to competition review."" With the seven remaining routes, Korean Air has decided to ""cede a limited number of slots"" in the event that ""remedy takers"" decide to operate on these routes.
The business merger received previous approval from Turkiye in February 2021, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines in May 2021, Malaysia in September 2021, Vietnam in November 2021, South Korea and Singapore in February 2022, Australia in September 2022, China in December 2022, and the UK in March 2023.
Japan approves Korean Air and Asiana merger, EU and US approval pending
