The clock is ticking for South Korea to have its mega carrier. The HanJin Group has received regulatory approval from Europe, the US and South Korea, and is now entering the final stages of integrating Asiana Airlines into Korean Air. The timeline for the completion is very tight and ambitious.
In this post:
- Asiana Airlines Will Shut Down December 17th 2026
- Korean Air’s Ambitious Integration Timeline
- Korea Will Have Its Mega-Airline
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Asiana Airlines Will Shut Down December 17th 2026
So the main talking point of this blog post is the shutdown of Asiana Airlines. We all knew the day was going to come since 2020, when Korean Air started making the first moves to take over the Kumho-founded airline.
However, now we are in the final stages of integration, and we know when the last operations will be taking place under the Asiana colours, flag, and identity.
December 17th, 2026 will be the last day in which we will see the Asiana livery and its OZ IATA code operate independently.
Following that date, it will fall under the Korean Air identity, with all operations being absorbed by the flag carrier.
Korean Air’s Ambitious Integration Timeline
Korean Air is being quite bold and ambitious with its timeline for the completion of the integration.
The regulatory steps are not the biggest hurdle to be overcome in this final phase of the merger. It is instead the integration of operations and creating the consistency between Korean Air and Asiana crew, fleet and SOPs (standard operating procedures).
In simple terms, all Asiana Airlines crew will have to undergo a refresher of their training to align to the Korean Air way of operating. Additionally, all Asiana aircraft will have to be repainted and retrofitted to create passenger experience consistency across all flights.
The last big hurdle is also related to IT. Airlines will have to merge under one operating system, and doing that in six months is rather tight. There is a real risk of hitting operational hiccups that might affect passengers and flights.
From a passenger’s perspective, lounges will also have to be ready by that time to accommodate the large number of visitors which will inherently come along with the merger between Korean Air and Asiana.
I’ve covered on this website the various stages of Korean Air renovating its lounges and how it is moving rather quickly, but everything has to go according to plan without any hiccups for it to be ready by December 17.
If you’re wondering what’s gonna happen to your miles if you’re an Asiana member, you can read this other post that I’ve written.
Korea Will Have Its Mega-Airline
What the integration of Korean Air with Asiana will produce is a real mega airline. Not great news for those traveling within and to Korea, as competition will go down and inevitably prices will go up.
The result will be an airline operating over 200 aircraft with one of the most powerful cargo operations in Asia. An airline capable of taking on the giants of aviation worldwide.