The European Union has granted its final approval of Korean Air’s merger with Asiana Airlines after the former met the conditions set out by the European Commission in February.
Korean low-cost carrier T’way Air has already been designated as the “remedy carrier” for the four overlapping European routes: from Seoul to Barcelona, Frankfurt, Paris and Rome.
The deal was cleared by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in early 2023 after Korean Air agreed to make slots available for Virgin Atlantic to operate between London and Seoul.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is the sole remaining governmental body yet to approve the Korean Air-Asiana merger, which was announced in November 2020.
Korean Air has submitted the EU approval to the DOJ and “plans to complete the transaction” by the end of this month.