FTC "Korean Air-Asiana Mandates Over 90% Seats Compared to 2019"

The Fair Trade Commission has finally decided that Korean Air and Asiana Airlines should maintain more than 90% of the number of seats supplied for aircraft compared to 2019 instead of being approved for a business combination.

The mileage conversion rate, which is receiving a lot of attention, will be reported in the next six months.

The FTC said in a plenary session that it confirmed some corrective measures imposed in May 2022 when it conditionally approved the two companies' business combination.

This time, the Fair Trade Commission specified the ban on reducing the number of seats supplied by the combined company by year and route to "less than 90%."

At the time of 2022, the FTC decided to decide this ratio later because it was not possible to properly gauge the impact of COVID-19, but this time, it decided to base it on the 2019 tally.

We also decided to receive a report on the mileage conversion ratio between the two companies by June next year.

The implementation of the new mileage system is an issue that needs to be approved by the Fair Trade Commission, and it plans to complete the review of the system within the next two years when it is launched as an integrated airline.

As a result, Korean Air's review of Asiana Airlines' business combination was completed in more than four years after the decision to take over in November 2020, with 14 countries, including the Fair Trade Commission and EC and DOJ.

The FTC said it will closely check to prevent violations of corrective measures such as excessive fare hikes, supply cuts, and mileage improvement after the combination.