narvik

Another Chinese Airline would be nice.

Longboater

And its ONLY the DOJ left opposing this, but that shouldn't come as a shock as, not going too far into OMNI territory, any and every airline merger and acquisition proposed over the past three years is at a dead-end, which could have major long-term negative consequences if certain airlines begin filing Chapter 11 left and right. Should there be concessions/negotiations by Korean? Yes, I believe year-round double daily SFO-ICN recently announced by United and the merged Korean/Asiana should divest a SFO-ICN flight, ditto LAX-ICN, potentially allowing AA to look into LAX-ICN as they were close to announcing it before COVID hit as examples of concessions. But the current attitude of the DOJ of not even entertaining such concessions, as the UK/EU/Japan all asked for, negotiated, and agree to, is most unhelpful. Korean should move forward this year with the Asiana acquisition, calling the DOJ's bluff.

I think I know which one you are referring to and it pains me to read it as a Chinese airline now but for all tense and purposes, it is a Chinese airline now.

MSPeconomist

IIRC Asiana uses T1 at ICN while KE (and SkyTeam) moved to the newer T2. I would expect Asiana to eventually move to T2 after the merger with KE, so that the current Asiana lounge space would be available to another airline/alliance/credit card to make into its own lounge in T1.

cesco.g

ITA is "in the wings" provided LH will acquire them.

Kacee

Unfortunately there are regulatory hang-ups there as well.

To me, the loss of SK is much greater than the loss of OZ, as *A already has such fantastic Asian coverage with NH, BR, SQ, and TG. OZ used to be much more generous with premium cabin award space, but its utility has declined (at least for me) as the screws have tightened on that in recent years. I never much liked the ICN transfers (or lounges), though they are relatively efficient, and OZ still flies a dreadful angle-flat seat on most intra-Asia routes.

drewguy

not sure how you�d propose they do that - if they�ve filed for merger approval they have to wait until it�s received. Any effort to close despite that is likely to result in further delays as DOJ seeks a TRO to halt integration as well as penalties. They could force DOJ to bring a suit, but that�s likely to lead to a trial at least 6 months later with more time for decision by a court.

oblisk

As someone who lives in Europe and used OZ recently, was lucky enough to sit upper deck on OZ's last 744 (was only one seat in the old F cabin unfortunately and more than one of us), which I believe retired last week. OZ + SK departure will actually have me considering taking another look at KL/AF, especially if they continue to open up reasonable USA-EUR award space in J, so I can shuffle family around on the cheap.

sonyeoshin

https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/139...lliance-report

Article should explain everything.

narvik

Bolding mine:

"The Korean-language Asian Economy outlet reports that both airlines have begun laying the groundwork to join the alliance, which requires member carriers to meet certain safety, operational, fleet, and network requirements, in addition to having full IATA membership and a functional frequent flyer programme. Currently neither airline can meet the full suite of requirements."

Warriorconcept

This likely won't close this eyar as it's still going through DOJ pushback right? I have my first Asiana flight ever booked for November purely to get the PQP/PQF credited to UA...

dinoscool3

At this point I'd say there's zero chance OZ will leave *A before the end of the year.

Warriorconcept

Cheers!

atword

Perhaps Cathay Pacific if Air China increases their stake?

What about "joining" as an affiliate airline?

angetenar

In particular, Air Premia is currently not an IATA member and T'way does not have a frequent flyer program.

seks

Similar to Warriorconcept, I have two OZ SFO-ICN flight booked via AC AP for November.

What would happen to our flights if OZ do leave *A before Nov?