The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has approved Korean Air's acquisition of Asiana, following the flag carrier's offer to co-operate with Virgin Atlantic on services to Heathrow. Korean and Asiana currently offer the only direct services between the UK and South Korea. British Airways withdrew from the market amid the pandemic. "The CMA's approval is evidence that the proposed remedies submitted by the airline have resolved competition restriction concerns," says Korean. "As part of the remediation effort, Korean Air will enter into a co-operative partnership with Virgin Atlantic's operation on the London Heathrow-Seoul Incheon route.” Virgin Atlantic has never before operated to Seoul, and has not yet officially announced the new route. Korean Air is a member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, which Virgin Atlantic is set to join on 2 March. On 28 November, the CMA said it had accepted the proposed remedies proposed by Korean but would consult the market before giving final approval. The transaction now requires approval from regulatory bodies in the EU, Japan and USA, having already received clearance from 11 competition authorities globally, including the UK. European Commission regulators said on 20 February that they would carry out an in-depth investigation into the proposed merger, citing concerns that the deal may reduce competition in both passenger and cargo markets between Europe and South Korea. The two carriers both operate from Seoul Incheon to Paris, Frankfurt, Rome and Barcelona, together commanding a 63% share of the market between Incheon and Europe by number of flights. Korean has said it believes the acquisition will complete this year, despite the delays in securing regulatory approval.

Lufthansa low-cost subsidiary Eurowings is preparing its first Airbus A321 for scheduled service from May. Eurowings says the International Aero Engines V2500-powered twinjet (D-AIDV) – freshly in repainted in the airline’s livery – is the first of six A321ceos joining the carrier’s fleet from Lufthansa. Data lists two additional ex-Lufthansa A321ceos – D-AIDU and D-AEUJ – in storage for deployment at Eurowings. D-AEUJ is powered by CFM International CFM56 engines and was initially delivered to now-defunct Air Berlin. In addition to the A321ceos, Eurowings is scheduled to receive four new A321neos by year-end, as part of a deal for 13 A320neo-family jets, the airline says. It adds the A321s will be configured with around 230 seats – including 16 business seats – and deployed on popular routes to Mediterranean destinations.Lufthansa's operates its A321s in cabin layouts for 200 and 215 passengers, its website indicates. Eurowings and its subsidiaries based in Austria and Malta together have 40 A319ceos, 55 A320ceos, seven A320neos and two Boeing 737-800s. Eurowings Discover, meanwhile, has another nine A320ceos, three A330-200s, nine A330-300s, and two A350s on lease from Finnair.

SriLankan Airlines has ambitions to expand its fleet size to 35-36 aircraft in three to four years' time, even as it seeks to restructure its debts amid the country's economic and political crisis. Speaking at Aviation Festival Asia in Singapore on 28 February, chief executive Richard Nuttall said the first phase of the plan was to bring the fleet from 24 aircraft currently to its pre-pandemic size of 27. The fleet size has remained unchanged, at 24 aircraft, since March 2021. Data shows that SriLankan's all-Airbus fleet comprises five A320ceos, two A320neos, one A321ceo, four A321neos and 12 A330ceos. Nuttall believes a fleet of 35-36 aircraft would be of the "optimal size" for the airline to carry passenger traffic created by the Sri Lankan diaspora, tourism, and Indian traffic, particularly from secondary cities, to Sri Lanka, and also feeding to the East. "And those are markets where we have an advantage where we're number one or number two. That is very hard for anybody to compete with," he says. This comes amid the airline's troubles in servicing existing debt given the country's stay on serving foreign debt. Nuttall is optimistic on the path out of its troubles, stressing that the airline "essentially has an operation that is profitable and absolutely should grow", driven by its three core travel segments. 'I think the people that matter know that they need that airline," he says. "I mean, the reality is, if you look at tourism in Sri Lanka, 10% of the population either directly or indirectly, their livelihood comes from tourism."While there is "appetite for making this thing work", he acknowledges that "it takes a little bit of time when you don't have access to capital because of what the country is going through". He adds: "The goal is to restructure some of the debt, and then that puts us in a much better position to invest for the future, and then possibly privatise."