Korean Air completes Asiana acquisition
On 12 December 2024, Korean Air announced it has completed the acquisition of 63,88% in Asiana Airlines, taking fully control of it. The acquisition ends a four year long endeavor that was launched in November 2020.
Asiana Airlines will now first continue to operate as a subsidiary of Korean Air, while both companies work towards full integration of both companies and Korean Air be the remaining brand.
It's expected that Korean Air is set to launch a corporate identity rebranding, including a new livery, to mark the birth of the new airline.
The merger will see quite some changes to the South Korean aviation scene. As part of getting approvals from various anti-competition authorities around the world, Korean Air has handed-over routes and aircraft to T'Way Airlines and Asiana Cargo is in the process of being sold to Air Incheon. It also plans to merge Air Busan and Air Seoul into Jin Air.
The merging of operations will take up to two years. In that timeframe, Asiana Airlines will also withdraw from the Star Alliance.
Fleetwise, the combined current fleets of Asiana and Korean Air is made-up of ten Airbus A220-300s, twelve A321s, 25 A321neos, 44 A330-300s, fifteen A350-900s, thirteen A380-800s, one B737-700BBJ, two B737-800s, five B737-8s, nine B737-900s, six B737-900ERs, sixteen B747-400Fs, seven B747-8s, seven B747-8Fs, one B767-300, one B767-300F, fourteen B777-200ERs, four B777-300s, 25 B777-300ERs, twelve B777Fs, one B787-8BBJ, thirteen B787-9s, and five B787-10s.
Photo by Korean Air.