Asiana Airlines acquires all shares of Air Seoul and provides financial support for Air Busan, with a view to make their aviation industries stronger during the period of financial drought.

Asiana Airlines has acquired its low-cost subsidiary Air Seoul completely by purchasing additional 36 million shares for KRW180 billion (USD128 million) in an attempt to reinforce its financial structure. This acquisition was also actualised on the 13th of May 2025, as part of Asiana’s efforts to bring Air Seoul operations back to stability level amidst erosion of capital.

At the same time, Asiana announced a share consolidation program for Air Seoul whereby eight shares are combined to form a single share to fill the deficit at the subsidiary. This will make the number of issued shares go down from 39.5 million to slightly below 5 million.

A company’s spokesperson said that the investment of Asiana will solve the financial problems of Air Seoul and will guarantee more stable aviation operations. Even with increased sales after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Air Seoul has recorded three years of financial crisis.

Aside from this, Asiana Airlines is allocating financial aid to another LCC, namely Air Busan in terms of providing KRW100 billion (USD71 million) worth of perpetual convertible bonds for its financial enhancement against both internal and external uncertainties.

Elsewhere, Korean Air, which owns Asiana, intends to integrate the two (Air Seoul and Air Busan) with its own low-cost carrier Jin Air to come up with a bigger and more formidable airline. The period for this consolidation in this aviation industry is still unknown. Its acquisition of stake in Asiana was completed at the end of last year by Korean Air, and this is an indication of more moves towards consolidation in South Korea’s aviation sector.