Korean Air has gotten the green light from shareholders to amend its articles of association to help finance its planned acquisition of compatriot Asiana Airlines, moving the carrier a step closer in taking over its rival. At an extraordinary meeting on 6 January, the majority of Korean Air shareholders voted in support of the proposed amendment, which raises the upper limit of its shares to 700 million, from the current limit of 250 million. The increase will allow the carrier to conduct a W2.5 trillion ($2.3 billion) rights issue in March, which is part of plans to fund the Asiana acquisition, which is valued at around W1.8 billion. The amendment is the latest in a series of regulatory and legal hurdles Korean Air has overcome, in its acquisition of Asiana. In December, a Seoul district court quashed an attempt – sought by private equity fund and Korean Air shareholder Korea Corporate Governance Improvement (KCGI) – to block the takeover bid. The deal also reportedly faced scrutiny from competition watchdogs both in Korea and in major markets such as the USA and the European Union. In its latest statement following the shareholders’ meeting, Korean Air says it intends to submit documentation to foreign and domestic anti-trust authorities by mid-January, to review the deal. Work surrounding due diligence on Asiana, which began in December, is also ongoing, the carrier adds. By 17 March, Korean Air will unveil an “integration plan” relating to the acquisition.

Vietnam has broken ground for the first phase of a new airport for the city’s commercial centre of Ho Chi Minh City. On 6 January, prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc presided over the groundbreaking of phase one of Long Thanh International Airport, located to the east of Ho Chi Minh City. The airport will be developed in three phases at a total investment of D337 billion ($16 billion), says Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV). Phase one will see the development of a 4,000m runway in addition to aprons and taxiways, a passenger terminal with annual capacity of 25 million, and cargo terminals with annual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes. ACV says that the first phase is expected to be completed in 2025, with an investment of D109 billion ($4.7 billion). Phase two will see the development of a second runway and terminal. This will bring total capacity to 75 million passengers and 2.7 million tonnes of cargo annually. When complete, it will feature four runways, four passenger terminals, and have a capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo annually. Located to the north of Ho Chi Minh City, Long Thanh is a crucial element in improving Ho Chi Minh City’s airport capacity. The city’s sole airport at Tan Son Nhat is located in a developed area near the city. Before the coronavirus pandemic it was operating over its designated capacity.

There are signs that a long-running multinational blockade by Arab states against Qatar might be easing, after an agreement was reached to open airspace and other borders between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The agreement has been disclosed by Kuwaiti foreign affairs minister Ahmed Nasser Al-Muhammad Al-Sabah, on the eve of a Saudi-hosted summit of the Gulf Co-operation Council. Al-Sabah confirms the agreement to open air, sea and land borders and refers to the summit as offering an opportunity for “fraternal relations free of abnormality”. Four countries – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates – imposed the blockade on Qatari flights and other interests in June 2017. Qatar Airways experienced heavy losses in its fiscal year 2019-20, which ended just before the onset of the deepest impact of the pandemic. It describes the blockade, which it is challenging through ICAO, as “illegal” and stated in its most recent annual report that “little change” had occurred despite the Qatari government’s appeals to international organisations. The Kuwaiti government has served as a mediator in the dispute. Kuwait’s emir, Nawaf Al-Sabah, spoke to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and the Qatari emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani ahead of the GCC summit in Al-Ula, due to begin on 5 January. GCC secretary general Nayef Falah Al-Hajraf had formally delivered, at the end of December, an official invitation from the king of Saudi Arabia to the Qatari emir to attend the summit. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince states that the kingdom’s policy is based on a “solid approach” aimed at “achieving the ultimate interests of the GCC member states and the Arab countries”. UAE foreign affairs minister Anwar Gargash describes the Al-Ula summit as “historic”, through which participants will “restore Gulf cohesion”, without referring specifically to the UAE’s policy regarding the blockade on Qatar.