Britain's antitrust authorities have raised concerns over the planned merger of South Korea's Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, citing a possible market monopoly.
Britain's Competition and Markets Authority(CMA) said in a statement on Monday that the buyout of Asiana by Korean Air could lead to higher prices for passengers flying between London and Seoul.
The antitrust regulator also raised concerns regarding the impact of the deal on competition in cargo services.
The CMA then requested Korean Air to produce and submit measures to ease concerns about a market monopoly by next Monday, before the CMA decides whether to accept the measures or launch an in-depth second-phase inspection by November 28.
Currently, the Korean Air-Asiana deal remains subject to approval from antitrust regulators in the United States, the European Union, China and Japan, in accordance with standard procedure for markets where the airlines are active to investigate the deal’s effect on customers.