Welcome to International Airlines Group.
Who’s that you’re asking? It’s the new name of the the combined BA/Iberia merger (or what the holding company is called) when it completes at the end of the year. Both the British Airways and Iberia brands will be maintained as is.
The company will have its headquarters in London, with BA shareholders retaining 55% ownership and Iberia shareholder owning the rest.
Unite is supporting the deal – but not at any costs, with possible reductions (yes the s word was mentioned – and that’s banned in this blog)
Meanwhile over the pond, United and US Airways are still dancing around each other. And this dance has gone on. And on. And on. It seems that Tempe and Chicago have been in deep discussions with either a takeover or a merger on the cards. Again, if this goes ahead there’s major room for savings, but the biggest problem will be the unions and how the merged company would handle them.
And considering US Airways product is infinity worse than United’s Economy product (and that’s before we get to E+, Business and First class seats), this smells bad all round.
Were it a “Merger of Equals” and the different brands maintained, their could be legs in it – but it would sure honk off Continental…
