British Airways rejects merger rumours

British Airways has reportedly rejected widespread rumors that the United Kingdom’s flag carrier would either seek to merge with American Airlines or Iberia, or else it would greatly strengthen its already existing partnerships with these two companies. Over the course of the past days, several newspapers and websites have suggested that an announcement on a merger between British Airways and at least one other carrier was imminent. Originally, it was thought that such an announcement would occur on July 15th, within the context of the UK carrier’s annual meeting.

While no such announcement appears to be forthcoming, at least not in the very near future, British Airways did confirm that it was indeed in negotiations with American Airlines, although no details were released as to precisely what sort of ideas were being discussed. An airline spokesperson noted that talks with both American Airlines and Iberia are on-going and also pointed out that these discussions are nothing new, as they were started some time ago.

Industry analysts have, however, pointed out that if British Airways does go ahead and agree to merge with the US and Spanish legacy carriers, it would make Virgin Atlantic, BA’s main competitor on several key transatlantic routes, truly nervous. Perhaps this is why Virgin is reportedly also looking at ways to strike a partnership with British Midland (bmi), as well as Lufthansa, at least according to a report that appeared in the Guardian.

www.ba.com