A Merger Between Korean Air and Asiana

[rkacruiser]

I learned today that Korean Air will merge with Asiana with Korean Air expected to be the surviving airline.  I wonder how this might affect the Asian market.  

[FlyerTalker]

More of a purchase of Asiana by Korean than a merger.  Reports are that both airlines will continue to operate, though with a single ownership.  This means that you still have Star Alliance tie-ins with OZ, and SkyTeam tie-ins with KE.  Should be interesting, as other "group" ownerships have been within one alliance, such as Lufthansa with Swiss, Austrian, and Brussels; IAG with British, and Iberia; Air France with KLM.

[SelectSys]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

...  I wonder how this might affect the Asian market.  

 

I doubt there will be too many effects outside of the local Korean market.  Prices for domestic flights inside Korea I guess might rise.  Maybe international flights from with a domestic connection as well.

 

 Neither airline, I believe, is a top 10 Asian carrier and whatever capacity is lost that needs replacement can be easily provided by larger carriers.

[Zach1213]

10 hours ago, SelectSys said:

 

I doubt there will be too many effects outside of the local Korean market.  Prices for domestic flights inside Korea I guess might rise. 

 

I'm sure they will rise a bit, but South Korea does have a fairly lengthy list of airlines that operate domestically so there's only so much price raising they would probably be able to do. There's also the growing domestic rail network too.