The board of Asiana Airlines (OZ, Seoul Incheon) has, after protracted talks, approved the divestment of its cargo subsidiary as part of its push to gain European Commission (EC) antitrust consent for its proposed merger with Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon).

A stock exchange briefing dated November 2 said the proposal had been passed without amendments.

"Our board of directors has requested that the underwriter (Korean Air) submit a report to the European Commission in order to satisfy the prerequisites for closing the transaction related to the new share subscription agreement concluded between the underwriter and the company. We discussed whether to agree to the submitted corrective action plan and passed it as originally proposed," it said.

However, Asiana highlighted that the divestment would only take place once a new share purchase agreement with Korean Air has been finalised, and not earlier.

The merger still requires US and Japanese regulatory consent.