Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon) is reshuffling senior executives at its recently acquired subsidiaries Asiana Airlines, Air Busan, and Air Seoul. New CEOs were installed at all three carriers in the past week.

Song Bo-young, Korean Air's now former head of passenger sales and network, stepped into the CEO role at Asiana on January 16. Korean Air senior vice president Kim Jung-ho became CEO of Air Seoul on January 17, and Korean's executive director of passenger sales, Jeong Byeong-seop, became CEO of Air Busan on the same day.

Korean news outlets widely reported on the executive reshuffle, with the chief executives reportedly tasked with smoothing out the integration process and settling internal unrest. Korean Air intends to fold Air Busan and Air Seoul into its own budget airline, Jin Air (LJ, Jeju), and create the country's biggest low-cost carrier. Jin Air CEO Park Byung-ryul has kept his job. Korean Air will also integrate Asiana into its operations, a process expected to take up to two years.

According to the Korea Times, 12 Asiana executives have resigned in recent weeks, replaced by eight Korean Air executives. Further down the employee food chain, there are reportedly concerns about large-scale organisational restructuring at the airline.

Song's role, among other things, is to allay those concerns.

"Korean Air does not want Asiana Airlines to lose its own corporate culture due to the integration," Korean Air Chairman Cho Won-tae said last week. However, he also said the two airlines were already "functioning as one." The integration process will see the Asiana brand disappear. Local news sites report that the repainting of Asiana aircraft and removal of Asiana logos has already begun.

The appointments followed Korean Air successfully closing its long-fought takeover of Asiana late last year. Air Busan and Air Seoul are Asiana-controlled subsidiaries.

Meanwhile, a recent Korean Air bond issue was threefold oversubscribed. The airline had hoped to raise KRW200 billion won (USD138.5 million) via a five-year KRW50 billion (USD34.6 million) bond issue and a three-year KRW150 billion (USD103.9 million) bond issue. It received KRW81 billion (USD56.1 million) in orders for the five-year bonds and KRW579 billion (USD401.1 million) in orders for the three-year bonds. In a January 16 regulatory filing, the flag carrier said the funds raised would be used to repay debt.