SEOUL, Oct. 2 (BNA) – Antitrust officials in the United States and Britain may decide next month whether to approve a deal between Korean Air, South Korea’s largest airline, to buy smaller rival Asiana Airlines Inc., industry sources said on Sunday. . .
Currently, antitrust regulators in five countries, including the European Union, China and Japan, are reviewing Korean Air’s mix with Asiana. The company has won approval from nine other countries, including South Korea. Yonhap reported that the Seoul regulator gave conditional approval to the deal in February.
Korean Air is in talks with foreign airlines and domestic low-cost carriers to find alternative airlines operating on routes operated by Asiana, according to the sources.
Foreign regulatory authorities have asked Korean Air to take measures to ease concerns about market monopoly after the acquisition. The deal, estimated to be worth 1.8 trillion won ($1.25 billion), was signed in November 2020.
The Fair Trade Commission, South Korea’s antitrust watchdog, approved the deal on terms because it decided that combining the two companies could hinder competition on a large number of itineraries.
Regulatory reviews of the deal by the European Union and Japan have been relatively slow. Japan has been in a preliminary review of the deal since Korean Air submitted draft documents seeking approval in August last year.
Industry watchers said whether Korean Air could complete the acquisition hinges on a review by the European Union, as European regulatory authorities are rigorously looking into acquisitions by companies from non-European countries.
SM