British Airways and Iberia to merge

[openseat]

BA Iberia near agreement

British Airways shares improve on Iberia merger rumours, but Iberia investors not impressed. | Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation

It seems it will be BA:IB 55:45 - should be completed by the end of the month.

If it comes off it will be Europe's 2nd largest airline conglomerate.

 

[Danger]

Re: BA Iberia near agreement

BA and Iberia to take off

Telstra BigPond News and Weather

 

[samh004]

Re: BA Iberia near agreement

And then OW will be back to 10 airlines

 

[Danger]

Re: BA Iberia near agreement

And, hopefully, another 10% off sale: "To help celebrate our return to 10 member airlines, we're offering 10% off our fares"!

 

[serfty]

Merge Confirmed:

• SkyNews - BA And Iberia Reach Deal In Merger Plan
• BBC.com - BA and Iberia agree merger deal

 

[Slats7]

Endgame near as British Airways and Iberia agree on basis of merger | The Australian

BRITISH Airways and Iberia this morning agreed on the basis for a proposed merger expected to be completed in late 2010, a BA spokesman said.

The proposed merger would create an airline group with 419 aircraft which would fly to 205 destinations.

 

[serfty]

Merger Discussion doco:

• The creation of a leading European airline group

 

[Slats7]

Decent fleet size!

 

[docjames]

Decent fleet size!

And expect that to be oneof the first areas targetted for consolidation.

I presume they'll continue (for the forseeable future) as separate brands?

An A340 in BA colours would be nice to see.

Also, wasnt there some deal with Iberia and Marescens (?spelling) about fleet renewals - some huge number of A3802/A330s? (also tied up in the Aerolineas Argentinas deal??)


Edit: Had chance to read link, separate brands continue.

 

[Nigelinoz]

Times Online report here:
BA and Iberia merger cleared for take-off - Times Online

The merger by the two loss-making companies is expected to set off another round of cost-cutting at both to save £360 million a year. Jobs are likely to be lost at head offices in London and Madrid, in maintenance facilities and in the sales forces.

headquarters and stock market listing will be in London and Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive, will head the merged group.

 

[pblackm]

Re: BA Iberia near agreement

And then OW will be back to 10 airlines

Is it a given that they'll leave OW?

 

[Danger]

Re: BA Iberia near agreement

Is it a given that they'll leave OW?

I think the assumption was they would merge into one airline, thereby bringing oneworld member airlines back to 10. However, it would seem they are staying as separate brands for the time being. There has been no discussion of either leaving oneworld, as far as I can see.

 

[straitman]

British Airways and Iberia are following the lead of Air France-KLM, about taking your time and not forcing the two entities together too quickly.

There’s certainly been no rush in getting the deal cemented. BA and Iberia have been in talks about merging for well over a year before yesterday’s MOU was signed to have the merger take effect late next year.



No Rush in BA, Iberia Deal

 

[pblackm]

Re: BA Iberia near agreement

I think the assumption was they would merge into one airline, thereby bringing oneworld member airlines back to 10. However, it would seem they are staying as separate brands for the time being. There has been no discussion of either leaving oneworld, as far as I can see.

I get it now.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Merger Discussion doco:

• The creation of a leading European airline group

Has anyone flown with Iberia? impressive website.

The pommies would never have thought they needed to get into bed with the spanish 10 years ago, my how things have changed.

Cheers

SPRUCE

 

[Danger]

Has anyone flown with Iberia? impressive website.

I would go to reasonable lengths to not fly them again. They lost my bag on a LONE4 about four years ago. Now I understand this happens from time to time and in some ways it's one of the prices you sometimes pay. What I was extremely frustrated with was their handling of the situation: very poor customer service both at the airport and on the phone. It was four days before I got it back. Astonishingly my suitcase had five bag tags on it, all BCN to ATH, and even two for the same day!

As far as the product goes I don't recall.

 

[garyjohn951]

I flown Iberia and it is good.

Haven't lost bags on them, but have on CX, QF and AA but thats the luck of travelling these days. They all eventually caught up with me.

 

[tuapekastar]

Reports I have heard/read on IB over the years (never flown 'em) seem to generally indicate great service in the air, cough service on the ground.

 

[drron]

I wonder whether the IB pilots responsible for this 2 years ago will be part of the merged group-
Report: Iberia A346 at Quito on Nov 9th 2007, overran runway

 

[straitman]

British Airways, Iberia Reach Deal

British Airways and Iberia reached agreement yesterday on a proposed merger of the two airlines that would be completed in late 2010.