Airlines across the world generally love to see less or no competition in their route plans , but in a strange move , Korean Air wants carriers to share it's "Incheon-Los Angeles route" , and one wonders , Why ?
The wish to get competitors in the said route is basically an effort to obtain the much needed "antitrust approval" from US regulators in the process of the acquisition of the cash-strapped rival Asiana Airlines.
After getting the nod from Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for the acquisition of the rival Asiana Airlines , Korean Air is making continuous talks with several Southeast Asian carriers to share its Incheon-Los Angeles route , which is an effort to get antitrust approval from US regulators in its acquisition process.
US regulators want the South Korean Carrier show plans and evidence that will ensure appropriate competition in the said Route and dominance by the carrier does not result in Monopoly.
Prior to this , Korean Air have already spoken to multiple US carriers to increase the number of flights in the sectors , those connect the cities of the United States, with no apparent results.
Now, the carrier is looking into other Avenues and trying to explore the interested Asian carriers, those will be interested allocating few aircraft on the Route in discussion.
It will rather be interesting to witness , how Korean Air manages to obtain the approvals from other major countries and Unions like the EU, the UK, Japan and China for the ambitious merger.
During the peak of the Pandemic , in November 2020 , Korean air had made a deal to buy a 63.88 percent stake in the Asiana Airlines for an amount of $1.3 billion.
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