Korean Air plans to introduce aircraft that change the economy class layout from the existing '3-3-3' to '3-4-3' in September, but it was revealed that these aircraft will not be deployed on 40 routes, including Los Angeles (LA), New York, Rome, China, Japan, and Jeju. This is due to the conditions set by the Fair Trade Commission when approving the merger with Asiana Airlines. Korean Air has stated that it will implement the corrective measures from the Fair Trade Commission without any issues.
Korean Air announced that it will change the economy class layout on 11 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft from '3-3-3' to '3-4-3' and introduce a premium class that is 10% more expensive than economy class. The first renewed aircraft will be deployed on medium and short-haul routes in mid-September.
Consumers have expressed complaints that changing the economy class layout will reduce the space between seats, making it uncomfortable. However, according to the Fair Trade Commission's 'behavioral measures,' the aircraft cannot be deployed on 40 routes, including Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Frankfurt, Rome, London, Paris, China, Southeast Asia, Japan, and domestic routes to Jeju (26 international routes and 14 domestic routes).
The Fair Trade Commission required that Korean Air and Asiana Airlines adhere to behavioral corrective measures to prevent consumer harm until the end of 2034 when it approved the corporate merger in 2022. The behavioral measures include ▲ limits on fare increases ▲ prohibition on reducing the number of available seats ▲ maintaining service quality ▲ integration of mileage, which also includes seat spacing, meaning it cannot be changed unfavorably compared to 2019. The corrective measures target 40 routes where Korean Air and Asiana Airlines overlap in their operations and where there are significant concerns about competition.
The Fair Trade Commission believes that changing the seat layout will not be a major issue if it is not on the 40 routes. A Korean Air official said, "We will comply with the corrective measures imposed by the Fair Trade Commission upon the merger" and noted, "We are considering deploying the renewed aircraft on routes other than those subject to corrective measures among a total of 96 routes."
Violating the corrective measures will result in a penalty surcharge. On the 3rd, the Fair Trade Commission revealed that Asiana Airlines violated the 'limit on average seat fare increases' measure and caught that it received 680 million won more in fares in the first quarter, imposing a penalty surcharge of 12.1 billion won.