Korean Air said Monday it will take over Asiana Airlines by early next year, and first operate it as a subsidiary before completely merging the airline in accordance with its overall plan.

Hanjin Group, which owns Korean Air, was originally expected to operate Korean Air and Asiana separately, but decided on a merger in consideration of difficulties in the aviation sector at the moment amid the pandemic.

Korean Air has stressed it won't be a unilateral absorption and it will maintain Asiana's strengths as they are. However, once the consolidation process is complete, Asiana Airlines will become history after some 30 years since its foundation in 1988.

Changes to flight routes and workforce appear inevitable but Korean Air and Korea Development Bank(KDB), the main creditor of debt-ridden Asiana, have promised there would be no large-scale restructuring.

Current air routes serviced by Asiana are not likely to disappear, though there is the possibility that some overlapping long distance routes will be merged.