Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines filed administrative lawsuits challenging the Korea Fair Trade Commission's order imposing penalty surcharges. They took legal action after the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) levied a total of 6.46 billion won in penalty surcharges, saying the airlines violated the "seat supply maintenance obligation" imposed as a condition for merger approval.
On the 23rd, according to the industry, Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines recently each filed a lawsuit with the Seoul High Court seeking cancellation of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC)'s decision to impose penalty surcharges. The Asiana Airlines case was assigned to the 3rd Administrative Division of the Seoul High Court, and the Korean Air Lines case to the 7th Administrative Division. A hearing date has not yet been set.
In December last year, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) imposed 5.88 billion won on Korean Air Lines and 580 million won on Asiana Airlines, for a total of 6.46 billion won in penalty surcharges. It determined that on the Incheon–Frankfurt route from December 2024 to March last year, the number of supplied seats was operated at 69.5% of the same period in 2019, violating the condition "no reduction below 90% compared with 2019."
The seat supply maintenance obligation is a merger remedy imposed to prevent airlines from effectively raising fares by reducing the number of seats. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) viewed that reduced seat supply could directly affect consumer choice and airfares.
The airlines each retained a major law firm to respond to the lawsuits. Asiana Airlines reportedly appointed BAE, KIM & LEE LLC, and Korean Air Lines appointed Lee & Ko as their representatives.
Meanwhile, Asiana Airlines also previously filed a suit to cancel the 12.1 billion won penalty surcharge imposed by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) in August last year.