United Airlines said Wednesday it expects to carry 5.5m passengers during the Thanksgiving travel period, up about 12% over 2021. The US carrier will operate more than 3,700 flights per day on average during the Nov. 18-30 period. United forecasts it will carry about as many passengers over the holiday as the pre-pandemic period in 2019. United also predicts Nov. 27 -- the Sunday after Thanksgiving -- will be its busiest travel day since before the pandemic with more than 460,000 passengers. United said it had added about 275 extra flights on Sunday to help accommodate this peak demand. The Transportation Security Administration said in the week ending Tuesday it screened 14.9m people, down slightly from the 15.3m people screened in the same period in 2019. The Transportation Department said Monday that US August air passenger traffic was still down 8.6% over pre-pandemic levels -- 76.6m passengers versus 83.8m in August 2019.<br/>
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South Korea’s largest air carrier Korean Air’s buyout of Asiana Airlines faced yet another hurdle, as the US antitrust regulator decided to conduct a more thorough investigation before granting approval of the merger. The US Federal Trade Commission was expected to announce its decision this week, but informed Korean Air on Wednesday it would need more time for a thorough evaluation, according to the Koran air carrier. In March, the US antitrust watchdog evaluated that when merged with Asiana Airlines, Korean Air would virtually monopolize the popular Incheon-Los Angeles route at home and elevated the investigation to its in-depth second-stage review. At the same time, the FTC requested that Korean Air submit plans on how to ensure competition. In response, Korean Air in August submitted required documents, including plans on how to share the cited routes with other air carriers to reduce antitrust concerns. The watchdog had said it would take 75 days to review the case. “We have been fully engaged in submitting documents and responding to investigations required by the US, and we plan to continue to do so to get its green light for the merger,” said Korean Air in an official statement. Just a day earlier, British competition authorities had expressed concerns over the merger, citing worries that Korean Air and Asiana Airlines could possibly dominate routes between the two countries. Britain’s antitrust regulator asked Korean Air to submit remedies to address its concerns by Nov. 21.<br/>