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Korean Air, Asiana hit with combined $4.4M in fines for reduced seat capacity

Published: 22 Dec. 2025, 17:00 Updated: 22 Dec. 2025, 18:57

An Asiana Airlines plane takes off in front of a Korean Air flight at Incheon International Airport on Nov. 29, 2024. [NEWS1]

Korea’s antitrust regulator fined Korean Air and Asiana Airlines a combined 6.46 billion won ($4.4 million) on Monday for sharply cutting seat capacity on an international route, breaching the watchdog's conditions for the merger of the country's two largest carriers.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said the airlines breached a corrective measure attached to the approval of a merger that requires them not to cut seat supply below 90 percent of 2019 levels. The FTC imposed an enforcement fine of 5.88 billion won on Korean Air and 580 million won on Asiana for failing to comply.

Seat capacity on the Incheon–Frankfurt route operated by the two airlines between Dec. 12 last year and March 28 this year reached only 69.5 percent of the level recorded during the same period in 2019, the commission found. That was 20.5 percentage points below the minimum threshold set by the FTC.

The regulator gave final approval to the merger on the condition that airlines maintain annual seat supply at no less than 90 percent of pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels in 2019. An investigation found that Korean Air and Asiana continued to operate the route without meeting that requirement.

Enforcement fines apply when companies subject to corrective measures in merger cases fail to comply with conditions imposed to address competition concerns.

The FTC had ordered both structural and behavioral remedies for the two airlines when it approved the merger in December 2024.

Structural measures required the carriers to transfer slots and traffic rights on 26 international routes with high competition concerns, including Incheon–New York, and eight domestic routes to other airlines within 10 years from the date of the merger. The FTC also imposed behavioral measures that remain in place until the structural remedies are completed, including limits on average fare increases, a ban on cutting seat supply below 90 percent of 2019 levels and requirements to maintain service standards such as seat spacing and free baggage allowances.

Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are currently integrating operations with the aim of finishing the merger by 2027.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEONG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]