On December 22, Korean Air announced, "We plan to review the specific reasons for the disposition and our response plan after receiving the official resolution," following the imposition of a penalty of approximately 6 billion KRW for violating the merger approval condition that prohibits excessive reduction in the number of seats compared to 2019 after the integration with Asiana Airlines.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission stated that Korean Air and Asiana Airlines violated the merger approval condition prohibiting the reduction of seat supply to below 90% of the 2019 level, and decided to impose a total penalty of 6.46 billion KRW. Of this amount, Korean Air is responsible for 5.88 billion KRW, and Asiana Airlines for 580 million KRW.
According to the Fair Trade Commission, from December 12 last year, the date of the merger, to March 28 this year, when the structural corrective measures were completed, the number of seats supplied by the two companies on the Incheon-Frankfurt route was only 69.5% of the 2019 level, which is 20.5 percentage points lower than the required threshold.
This is the second time the Fair Trade Commission has imposed a penalty for violating merger approval conditions. In August, a penalty of 12.1 billion KRW was imposed on Asiana Airlines for raising average fares on four routes by up to 28.2% more than promised.
On this day, the Fair Trade Commission also rejected the mileage integration plan of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines once again. Previously, in June, the commission had raised concerns about the lack of a clear basis for the mileage integration ratio, and this time, it pointed out the limited options for using the integrated mileage. The commission noted that only 82% of Asiana Airlines mileage would be recognized when converted to Korean Air mileage, but the available options for use were insufficient.
The Fair Trade Commission stated, "We have requested that Korean Air supplement its management plan for bonus seats and seat upgrade services using mileage, and resubmit the (mileage integration plan) within one month." This decision was based on the outcome of the plenary session held on December 10.
A Korean Air representative stated, "We are currently reviewing the matters requested by the Fair Trade Commission internally."
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