SEOUL (Reuters) -Asiana Airlines’ cargo unit will be sold to South Korean cargo carrier Air Incheon for 470 billion won ($342 million), Korean Air Lines said on Wednesday.
The EU competition regulator in June approved Air Incheon as the preferred bidder to buy Asiana’s cargo business, as a condition of approval for Asiana to merge with Korean Air.
The purchase will likely make Air Incheon, a small cargo-only airline, South Korea’s second-biggest freight carrier.
A sale agreement was signed on Wednesday, according to a Korean Air filing.
The purchase would transfer Asiana’s fleet, staff, customers and traffic rights to Air Incheon, which is based at Incheon airport, South Korea’s main international gateway and the world’s fifth-busiest cargo airport.
Korean Air, South Korea’s biggest carrier, is set to buy nearly two-thirds of Asiana for about $1.4 billion, but anti-trust authorities in the European Union want Asiana’s cargo business sold before they give full approval.
Korean Air had obtained a green light from 13 of 14 competition authorities for the Asiana deal and CEO Walter Cho has said he anticipates the final U.S. decision by the end of October.
($1 = 1,375.8900 won)
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Writing by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Christina Fincher)
