All Nippon Airways (ANA) has received approval for its planned takeover of Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) from Japan’s Fair Trade Commission (JFTC).

JFTC had initially rejected the proposed takeover because of concerns that the deal would restrict competition on services from Japan to the Chicago area and the Los Angeles area.

The competition authority said that in the overall cargo market – excluding large and dangerous goods shipments – the two would have a market share of around 30% to the Los Angeles area and 35% to the Chicago area. They would rank first in terms of capacity to both of these areas.

To appease the regulator, the two airlines agreed that they would provide a block space agreement to rival freighter carrier Polar Air Cargo and appoint a lawyer and an economist to monitor the agreement.

JFTC said the measures “create an effective check so that the group of companies involved cannot freely influence prices”.

However, the deal is still awaiting approval from competition authorities in China and Singapore.

ANA first announced its plans to purchase Boeing 747-8 freighter operator NCA from the NYK shipping group in March 2023.