Alternative airlines will enter international and domestic routes that had raised monopoly concerns due to the merger of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. Routes such as Incheon–Seattle, Incheon–Jakarta, and Gimpo–Jeju are now open to carriers other than Korean Air and Asiana Airlines.
On the 6th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Fair Trade Commission said they selected alternative airlines for key routes with monopoly concerns as one of the structural remedies following the merger of Korean Air and Asiana corporations. The selected airlines will complete follow-up procedures to finalize their operating plans by reflecting their allocated slots (takeoff and landing times) and are expected to enter the routes sequentially as early as the first half.
For international routes, Alaska Airlines was selected as the alternative carrier for Incheon–Seattle, Air Premia for Incheon–Honolulu, and T'way Air for Incheon–Jakarta. For the Incheon–Jakarta route, applicants were evaluated and the highest-scoring airline was chosen, while Incheon–Seattle and Incheon–Honolulu each had a sole applicant selected. For Incheon–Guam, Busan–Guam, Gwangju–Jeju, and Jeju–Gwangju, there were no applicants, so the selection process for alternative airlines did not proceed.
For domestic routes, four airlines—Eastar Jet Co., Jeju Air, T'way Air, and Parata Air—were selected as alternative carriers for the high-demand Gimpo–Jeju and Jeju–Gimpo routes.
The selection of alternative airlines was handled by the Air Transport Deliberation Committee of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT). The committee evaluated applicant airlines based on criteria reflecting the traffic rights allocation rules, including safety, user convenience, specificity of service plans, ability to operate continuously, and contribution to revitalizing regional airports.
This procedure is a follow-up to the corrective measures that the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) required when it conditionally approved the merger of Korean Air and Asiana corporations, mandating the transfer of slots and traffic rights on routes with competition concerns to other airlines. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said they plan to continue the transfer procedures for the remaining routes subject to corrective measures, beyond those selected this time, starting in the first half.
A government official said, "The introduction of alternative airlines will spur price competition for airfares and expand consumer choice."