As part of structural remedies following the Korean Air-Asiana Airlines merger, 10 monopoly or duopoly routes held by Korean Air and Asiana Airlines will be transferred to other carriers.
According to the Fair Trade Commission on the 21st, the Korean Air-Asiana merger implementation oversight committee (hereafter the oversight committee) held a regular meeting at the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency and decided to begin the procedure to transfer slots and traffic rights for 10 routes. This is a follow-up measure to the structural remedies imposed when the commission conditionally approved the merger in December last year.
At the time, the commission required Korean Air to transfer its slots and traffic rights on 34 routes where competition could be restricted by the two airlines' merger to other carriers. A slot is the right, allocated by aviation authorities to an airline, to use an aircraft's departure and arrival times, and a traffic right means the right to operate to a specific country.
The routes for which the transfer procedure is beginning are ▲ four to the United States (Incheon-Seattle, Incheon-Honolulu, Incheon-Guam, Busan-Guam) ▲ one to the United Kingdom (Incheon-London) ▲ one to Indonesia (Incheon-Jakarta) ▲ four domestic routes (Gimpo-Jeju, Jeju-Gimpo, Gwangju-Jeju, Jeju-Gwangju), totaling 10. Among these, the Incheon-Honolulu and Incheon-London routes already have substitute carriers selected by U.S. and U.K. competition authorities, respectively: Air Premia (Korea, one summer slot) and Virgin Atlantic (U.K.).
The oversight committee plans to make a final allocation of slots and traffic rights after announcing and receiving applications for substitute carriers, reviewing eligibility, and going through evaluation and selection by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Air Traffic Deliberation Committee. Evaluation criteria include the new entrant's operating capability and safety, as well as the potential to enhance consumer benefits.
Airlines selected through this transfer procedure could begin operating the relevant routes as early as the first half of next year. The commission also plans to proceed sequentially with transfer procedures for the remaining 18 routes starting in the first half of next year.
A Fair Trade Commission official said, "This measure is expected to resolve monopoly concerns that could arise from the merger of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines and to promote competition in the air travel market by expanding entry by new airlines."