Korean Air & Asiana Merger 2026: Everything You Need To Know

After almost six years of waiting, we finally have a date. Asiana Airlines (flight code OZ) will disappear on December 17, 2026 and become part of Korean Air (flight code KE). The boards of both airlines signed the final merger agreement on May 13, 2026. On that one day, Asiana leaves Star Alliance, joins SkyTeam, and closes the Asiana Club program. By fleet size, the new airline will be one of the world’s top 10. It will operate about 240 aircraft.

We’ve been writing about this story closely since Korean Air bought Asiana in late 2024. There has never been a more important time for Asiana Club members. December 1, 2026 is the deadline most people will care about: the last day to book Star Alliance partner award flights on Asiana Airlines.

This guide walks you through every piece of the deal in plain English: what happens to your miles, your status, your favorite Asiana routes, and what you should book right now before the deadline. We’ll also show you how to keep booking Korean Air award flights after the merger using SkyTeam programs like Air France/KLM Flying Blue and Delta SkyMiles.

Loyalty Program Integration: SKYPASS & Asiana Club

The biggest customer change is the merging of Korean Air’s SKYPASS (a SkyTeam program) and Asiana Club (a Star Alliance program). Together they have 45 million members and about 3.7 trillion won (~$2.7 billion as of late 2025) in unused miles. The conversion math matters to a lot of people.

After regulators rejected the plan twice, Korean Air has finally published a member-friendly version. The rates below still need final approval from South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), which is expected by June 30, 2026.

The New Asiana → SKYPASS Conversion Rates

Korean Air will use a split conversion rate. The rate you get depends on how you earned the miles in the first place:

• Flight-earned Asiana miles → 1:1 SKYPASS miles. If you flew to earn the mile, you keep its full value.
• Partner-earned Asiana miles → 1:0.82 SKYPASS miles. Miles from credit cards, hotels, and shopping partners lose about 18% of their value. So 1,000 Asiana miles become 820 SKYPASS miles.

Korean Air says the lower rate on partner miles is because partners pay less for those miles in the first place. It’s not great news for credit card collectors, but it’s better than the 1:0.70 rate the airline first proposed.

You Have 10 Years to Convert and Use Your Miles

Asiana Club members do not need to convert their miles quickly. Korean Air is giving everyone a 10-year grace period (10 extra years, until about the end of 2036). During this window:

• You can move your Asiana miles into SKYPASS whenever you want.
• Once moved, those miles can be used at the old Asiana award price list from December 31, 2024. For many routes, that price list is cheaper than Korean Air’s normal SKYPASS prices.
• First class awards are not allowed on converted miles. Business class and economy only.

This 10-year window is the biggest compromise the KFTC forced from Korean Air. It’s a real win for Asiana members who would otherwise feel rushed to spend their miles fast.

Where the Plan Stands With Regulators

The KFTC has been very strict about this loyalty merger:

• June 2025: Rejected Korean Air’s first plan for not protecting customers enough.
• September 25, 2025: Korean Air sent in a new plan with the 1:1 / 1:0.82 split and the 10-year extension.
• December 2025: The KFTC rejected it again, asking for better protections around award seat availability and upgrades.
• Expected June 30, 2026: Final KFTC decision on the latest plan, before the December merger.

Asiana Club vs Korean Air SKYPASS: At a Glance

Here’s how the two programs compare today, and what changes after the merger. If you’ve only ever used one of them, this is the program you’ll join (or leave).

The takeaway: Asiana Club’s strongest feature is Star Alliance partner access, which ends December 1, 2026. SKYPASS’s value lies in its good availability on Korean Air’s own flights, which AwardFares users can already book through six different SkyTeam programs.

What To Do With Your Asiana Miles Before December 1, 2026

Whether you should act now or wait depends on what kind of trips you’d book. Here’s our recommended plan:

1. Have unused Asiana Club miles? Spend them on Star Alliance partners. This is the most valuable thing you can do with your balance. Lufthansa First Class, ANA business class, EVA Air Royal Laurel, Turkish Airlines, and Singapore Airlines (for example, a Singapore to Tokyo flight) are all bookable today. They will be gone after December 1, 2026. Use our Star Alliance award search guide to find them.
2. Have an Asiana Gold or Diamond status you depend on? Do a status match into a different program before the merger. United, Lufthansa Miles & More, and Singapore KrisFlyer are good options if you want to stay in Star Alliance. If you are moving to SkyTeam anyway, Flying Blue and Delta SkyMiles often offer status matches.
3. Want to keep flying Korean Air after the merger? You won’t lose access. Several SkyTeam programs let you book Korean Air award seats, including Flying Blue, Delta SkyMiles, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. We cover the easiest ways to find them in our guide to SkyTeam award flights.
4. Wait before transferring large amounts of partner points. If you are about to transfer 50,000 or more credit card points into Asiana Club to secure miles, stop. Those miles will convert at the 1:0.82 rate. Transfer to a different program instead, or wait for the KFTC to approve the final plan.
5. Already have an Asiana award ticket? It’s safe. Tickets issued before December 1, 2026 stay valid through their travel date, even if you fly after December 17.

Asiana to SKYPASS Mileage Conversion Simulator

So what is your Asiana Club balance actually worth in SKYPASS? Slide between the two confirmed rates. Use 1.00 for flight-earned miles and 0.82 for partner-earned miles (credit cards, hotels). Most members have a mix of both. Slide somewhere in the middle to find your real number.

The math is the easy part. The harder question is what to do with your converted miles. You have two choices: use them at Asiana’s old price list for the next 10 years, or move them into SKYPASS and book directly. For most routes, the old Asiana price list is cheaper on long flights in business class. SKYPASS dynamic pricing can be cheaper on short flights in economy. The 10-year window lets you keep both options open.

Asiana Elite Status Matching: The New SKYPASS Tiers

Korean Air confirmed the elite status mapping in late 2025. The good news: no one loses their tier. The better news: Korean Air is adding a brand new SKYPASS tier called Morning Calm Select specifically to make room for Asiana’s top-tier members.

Three things worth knowing:

• Lifetime status is protected. If you earned Asiana Platinum or lifetime Diamond Plus, your status carries over for life.
• You keep elite recognition, but the partner network completely changes. Lounge access, priority boarding, and extra bags will work across SkyTeam (Delta, Air France, KLM, Korean Air, and others), not Star Alliance (United, Lufthansa, ANA, and others).
• Future status earning gets combined. After conversion or once the 10-year window ends, Korean Air will recalculate your tier using the total miles from both programs.

Saying Goodbye to Asiana Smartium Business Class

One thing the conversion math doesn’t capture: Asiana flies one of Asia’s most underrated business class cabins. The Asiana Smartium seat is about to disappear into Korean Air’s fleet.

Here’s what you’re losing the chance to book:

• Layout: 1-2-1 staggered design. Every seat is fully lie-flat with direct aisle access. You never have to climb over a neighbor.
• A350-900 aircraft: 28 Smartium seats across 7 rows. Each seat is 22 inches wide with a 77-inch pitch and a 77-inch bed. The cabin is small enough to feel private.
• A380 aircraft: 66 Smartium seats split into two small cabins (lower deck and upper deck). Slightly narrower at 21.3 inches but with a longer bed (80.4 inches). The upper-deck cabin is one of the quietest business class experiences in the air.
• Boeing 777-300ER aircraft: Same 1-2-1 Smartium layout on most updated planes.

Many travelers consider the Smartium seat as good as EVA Air’s top business class (Royal Laurel) and better than Korean Air’s own current business class (Prestige Suites 2.0). After the merger, planes with Smartium seats will keep flying for several years. But Korean Air has not promised to keep it as a separate cabin product.

If you want to fly Smartium, the window is now through late 2026. Use Asiana Club miles, Aeroplan, or any Star Alliance partner to book before December 1, 2026. For example, Aeroplan currently lists Seoul (ICN) to Los Angeles (LAX) in Smartium business class for 75,000 to 87,500 Aeroplan points one-way. That’s one of the better Star Alliance deals to Asia today.

Route Network and Fleet Integration

The new Korean Air will be huge, with about 240 aircraft. That puts it inside the world’s top 10 airlines by fleet size. The combined network looks like this:

• Duplicate routes will be reduced. On busy routes where both airlines fly today (like Seoul to Los Angeles, or Seoul to Tokyo), the number of flights and aircraft types will be adjusted so the merged airline doesn’t compete with itself.
• A 90% capacity rule protects passengers. Korean regulators are forcing the new airline to keep at least 90% of the seats it flew in 2019. That prevents the kind of route cuts that usually follow big mergers.
• Four European routes went to T’way Air. To get the merger approved, Korean Air gave Asiana’s flights to Frankfurt, Paris, Rome, and Barcelona to budget airline T’way Air. T’way is already flying these routes.
• Asiana Cargo was sold to Air Incheon. The cargo business was split off and sold to keep the air freight market competitive in Korea.
• Incheon Airport becomes a giant connecting hub. Seoul’s main airport will host one of the world’s largest connection operations.

Combined Korean Air + Asiana Airlines route network. Source: FlightConnections.

The New “KOREAN” Brand and Fleet Plans

• A new look, 41 years in the making. In March 2025, Korean Air revealed its first big rebrand since 1984. The new look uses a clean “KOREAN” wordmark (the word “Air” is gone), a darker blue color palette, and a modern version of the Taegeuk symbol from the Korean flag. The new aircraft paint scheme is already flying on some Boeing 787s.
• Asiana planes get repainted after the merger. The Asiana Airlines fleet keeps its current paint until after January 2027, when the airline is fully absorbed. Don’t expect to see the new “KOREAN” paint on former Asiana jets until then.
• A new Premium Economy cabin is launching. Korean Air’s new long-haul Premium Economy gives the combined fleet four cabins (First, Business, Premium Economy, Economy) on most large twin-aisle aircraft.
• A380s and 747-8s are staying. Korean Air delayed the retirement of its iconic A380 and Boeing 747-8 fleets because new aircraft are arriving late. The A380s are now expected to fly into the 2030s.
• Jin Air, Air Busan, and Air Seoul become one budget airline. Korean Air’s low-cost carrier Jin Air will absorb Asiana’s two low-cost subsidiaries (Air Busan and Air Seoul) by 2027. The result will be one dominant low-cost airline in South Korea.

The Merger Playbook: A Visual Timeline

Here is a visual breakdown of every key date in the Korean Air-Asiana merger, from start to finish.

Booking Korean Air Awards After the Merger

A quick clarification first, because the wording matters. AwardFares searches Korean Air flights every day (Korean Air’s flight code KE is in our SkyTeam coverage). What we don’t support is using SKYPASS as the points program you spend from. SKYPASS is a closed program. It has no credit card transfer partners outside Korea, which makes it hard to use for most travelers.

The merger actually makes Korean Air easier to book for our users. Once Asiana joins SkyTeam on December 17, 2026, every former Asiana flight becomes bookable through the SkyTeam programs we do support as the points source:

• Air France / KLM Flying Blue: Often the best deal for Korean Air business class to the U.S. and Europe. You can transfer points in from Amex, Chase, Capital One, Citi, and Wise.
• Delta SkyMiles: Prices change daily, but Delta is often the cheapest option for Korean Air in economy from the U.S.
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: Great fixed-price redemptions in business class.
• SAS EuroBonus, and several other SkyTeam programs we also support.

Try AwardFares for free to search all of these at once. On average, AwardFares premium users get 3x-7x more value from their points compared to cash prices. They regularly book $5,000+ premium-cabin flights at a fraction of that cost. Our Gold and Diamond plans add unlimited searches, alerts, seat maps, and full flight schedules.

If you still want to fly Korean Air or Asiana using Star Alliance miles, you have until December 1, 2026. Use our guide to finding Star Alliance award flights and book what you can before the deadline.

Read More

If you’re a Star Alliance loyalist about to be re-homed in SkyTeam, these guides will help you land softly:

Updated May 27, 2026, after the May 13 merger announcement.