Budget airlines eye long distance routes to fill void left by Korean Air-Asiana deal

Low-cost carriers are planning to increase their air routes to Europe and other medium- and long-distance destinations as the country's two main carriers ― Korean Air and Asiana Airlines ― may possibly give up some of their flight routes as a condition suggested by the antitrust regulator to approve the former's acquisition of the latter. In November 2020, Korean Air announced that it would acquire debt-ridden Asiana Airlines for 1.8t won ($1.5b), but the acquisition process is still pending awaiting approvals from antitrust regulators in multiple countries. On a related note, Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said at the end of December that it will grant an approval for the acquisition on the condition that the two air carriers return some of their airport landing slots and flight licenses. The slot refers to the right of an airline to use the airport, while the license means the right to operate at airports in overseas countries. By handing over some of its slots and licenses to LCCs, an FTC spokesperson said the competition agency intends to boost market competition and dispel concerns about monopoly issues. Local LCCs welcomed the decision as the redistribution of the slots and licenses would help them diversify their business models. Since the long-distance routes such as Europe could be included among the routes to be redistributed, they are scrambling to introduce addition large-sized aircrafts.<br/>