이 기사는 2021년 12월 31일 07시42분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

South Korea’s competition watchdog released a review report that gave a conditional approval to Korean Air Lines’ planned acquisition of Asiana Airlines on Wednesday, a move that could expedite an antitrust review process underway in other countries.

The report comes almost a year after the country’s biggest carrier filed an application for approval of the business combination with the Korea Fair Trade Commission in January. The final decision will be made at the KFTC’s standing committee meeting scheduled for early next year.

The antitrust regulator said in the report that it would approve the takeover if Korean Air returned some of its domestic airport slots and flight rights to the country’s land and transport ministry. The report also contained restrictive measures such as limiting a hike in air freight charges and banning the reduction of flights and services.

This was widely expected by industry watchers, with KFTC chairperson Joh Sung-wook previously saying that the combination of the country’s two flag carriers “could reduce competition” in the airline industry and therefore any approval would come with conditions.

Two months ago, the KFTC revealed its intention to finish the review process by the end of this year after it signed a memorandum of understanding with the land and transport ministry in October to work together on the preparation and execution of measures to prevent unfair competition that could result from a merger of the two airlines.

With the KFTC giving a conditional approval for the deal, antitrust regulators in other countries may also speed up their review process. Korean Air is required to receive antitrust approval from nine jurisdictions, with a review process still underway in the US, the EU, Japan and China.

Many industry experts expect other counties to make similar decisions to the one made by the KFTC as antitrust criteria are not so different from country to country. The KFTC also said it has continued to communicate with overseas authorities about possible solutions to the deal’s issues.

“They make their decisions on their own, but continued communication is necessary to build some sort of consensus and prevent the deal from falling through due to conflicting decisions from authorities,” a KFTC official said.

Korean Air will be able to acquire a 63.88% stake in Asiana Airlines worth 1.5 trillion won ($1.26 billion) through a capital increase only after securing regulatory approvals from all nine countries. The airline is expecting to be able to complete the acquisition in the first half of 2022. (Reporting by Su-jin Yoo)