Korean Air Fined 5.9 Billion Won for Reducing Seats... KFTC Cites Violation of Corrective Measures

[Financial News] Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are expected to face monetary penalties from the competition authorities for violating the business merger approval condition prohibiting the reduction of seat numbers.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) announced on the 22nd that it has decided to impose Enforcement Fines of 5.88 billion won on Korean Air and 580 million won on Asiana Airlines, after finding that both companies violated one of the corrective measures imposed as a condition for business merger approval—specifically, the prohibition on reducing the number of seats supplied to less than 90% of the 2019 level.
According to the KFTC, from December 12 of last year to March 28 of this year, the number of seats supplied by Korean Air and Asiana Airlines on the Incheon-Frankfurt route was only 69.5% of the same period in 2019.
Previously, when approving the merger, the KFTC ordered both companies not to reduce the annual number of seats to less than 90% of the 2019 level, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, both airlines operated the route at a level 20.5 percentage points lower than this standard.
When there are concerns that a business merger may restrict competition, the KFTC imposes corrective measures. If these are not properly followed, an Enforcement Fine is levied as a monetary penalty.
y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter