Korean Air and Asiana Airlines Merger Moves Forward, Offers Miles and Status Details

Four score and 7 years ago, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines planned to merge. After a drawn-out process, the final approval came in December 2024, announcing that Korean Air will acquire a 63.88% stake in Asiana Airlines.

There was a lot to unpack in the original announce, as a Star Alliance airline will be absorbed into a SkyTeam airline, there will be reshuffling with each airline’s low-cost brands, and concessions were made along the way.

Since the original announcement, the plan for merging the 2 airlines’ rewards programs was rejected (in June 2025), and those questions have now been resolved — becoming linked yet offering some separation for another 10 years as a consolation to ensure Asiana’s members don’t lose value along the way.

Here’s what you should know about the latest news on the merger between the 2 biggest airlines in South Korea.

Korean Air Acquiring Majority Stake in Asiana Airlines

Korean Air is a member of SkyTeam, while Asiana Airlines is a member of Star Alliance. These 2 airlines announced plans to merge in late 2020. Now, as 2024 draws to a close, they have all the government regulatory approvals needed to proceed with the merger — which required over a dozen government agencies to sign off.

While the airlines will continue to operate independently for a while, they will eventually become a single carrier, with Asiana merging into Korean. That means Asiana will leave Star Alliance. To complete the deal, Korean paid roughly $559 million to Asiana to acquire over 131 million of its shares.

Asiana will hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on January 16, 2025, to appoint a new board nominated by Korean.

Moving forward, Korean plans to complete its integration of Asiana within 2 years, including network optimization, reduction of route redundancy, launching new routes, and investing in new safety measures. There are no plans for restructuring the airlines’ workforce at this time, though employees with overlapping functions may be moved to other areas as the merger progresses.

Changes to Low-Cost Subsidiaries of Korean and Asiana

Along with Asiana leaving Star Alliance and eventually disappearing as an airline, merged into Korean, the airlines’ low-cost subsidiaries will also merge. Jin Air, Korean’s subsidy, will absorb Asiana’s subsidiaries, which are Air Busan and Air Seoul.

Moreover, Korean Air’s partnerships — such as its codeshare agreement with Delta Air Lines — will continue, while Asiana’s won’t.

Reward Program Merger Details

Back in June, Korean Air proposed a sub-par conversion rate for absorbing Asiana miles into Korean’s SKYPASS program, and that caused obstacles that have now been cleared.

For elite tiers, Asiana Club members will move into SKYPASS tiers as follows:

Additionally, Asiana Club members will be able to keep redeeming their miles using the award chart that was in place on December 31, 2024, and they can do so for another 10 years.

Asiana Club members also have the option to move their miles into SKYPASS at a 1:1 ratio — though miles received from partner transactions will be converted at a 1:0.82 ratio (820 miles received for every 1,000 miles sent)

Final Thoughts

The merger between Korean Air and Asiana Airlines continues to move forward, as it has all the signatures it needs. The airlines will eventually merge, though you’ll still see business as usual for a little while from each carrier. Star Alliance will lose an airline in the process, and the airlines will focus on expanding their route network while reducing redundancy.

Additionally, we now know what elite tiers Asiana Club members will receive in SKYPASS, including the creation of a new tier in the process. Asiana miles can be moved to SKYPASS or continue to be redeemed using the December 2024 award chart for another 10 years, which is a truly interesting element in all of these discussions.