Air Busan’s headquarters in Busan / Newsis
By Park Jae-hyuk
Busan’s politicians, businesspeople and civic groups have been trying to prevent Korean Air from relocating Air Busan to Incheon International Airport from the nation’s second-largest city.
Their move came as Korean Air is set to include Asiana Airlines as its subsidiary on Dec. 12 and integrate Jin Air with Asiana’s two budget carriers, following the approvals from antitrust regulators in the European Union and other countries for the takeover.
Air Busan is one of Asiana’s two low-cost carriers (LCCs) along with Air Seoul.
After Korean Air announced its plan to acquire Asiana in November 2020, Busan’s business community has called for the sale of Air Busan to a local company.
Busan’s city government, on the other hand, has sought to host the integrated LCC’s headquarters.
During the metropolitan city government’s meeting on Wednesday with the city’s businesspeople and civic groups, however, the participants agreed to ask Korean Air and the central government to locate the integrated LCC’s headquarters in Busan or to leave Air Busan as an independent entity headquartered in the city.
They also emphasized the need for Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon to meet with Korean Air Chairman Cho Won-tae.
However, it remains uncertain whether Korean Air will accept the request.
In 2022, Cho told foreign media that the three LCCs will be merged under the Jin Air brand and that Incheon will be the main hub for the combined LCC, while Busan will be a secondary hub.
Additionally, some civic groups in Busan are still calling for the sale of Air Busan.
They claimed that the combined LCC will hire most of its employees in Seoul and Incheon, even if it will locate its headquarters in Busan.
