Korean Air receives China's approval for Asiana acquisition
31 December, 2022
The Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (MOFCOM) has granted approval for Korean Air’s business combination with Asiana Airlines.
MOFCOM demanded that the merged Korean Air-Asiana entity reduce its market share due to competition concerns.
Korean Air has submitted remedies proposing to transfer slots to any new airlines wishing to start air services on nine routes where both Korean Air and Asiana Airlines operate.
Five of the nine routes have been proposed by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (Seoul-Zhangjiajie/Xi’an/Shenzhen, Busan-Qingdao/Beijing) earlier this year, and an additional four routes have been advised by MOFCOM (Seoul-Beijing/Shanghai/Changsha/Tianjin). Korean Air expects MOFCOM’s approval of the business combination to play a positive role in the review process of the remaining competition authorities.
Currently, Korean Air is still waiting for business combination approvals from the U.S., EU and Japan, countries where reporting is mandatory, as well as the final approval from the UK, where reporting is arbitrary.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has accepted remedies submitted by Korean Air, but will gather opinions from the market before giving its official approval.
The airline submitted business combination reports to the nine countries that require reporting. Out of the nine countries, Korean Air has received approval from China, Korea, Turkey, Taiwan and Vietnam. The Thailand Competition Commission announced that submission of a business combination report was not necessary.
From countries where reporting is arbitrary, Korean Air has received clearance from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. Philippines has confirmed that the business combination report was not required.
Source: japantoday.com
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