An Air Europa plane lands at Gran Canaria airport, Spain

An Air Europa plane lands at Gran Canaria airport, in Telde. | Borja Suarez

MDB Digital & ReutersParis13/05/2024 10:00
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British Airways owner IAG said it is in talks with other airlines about ceding routes in order to address EU regulators' concerns that its bid for Air Europa may reduce competition and lead to price increases.
IAG, which also owns Spanish carrier Iberia, aims to secure full control of Air Europa, which is based in Palma, but the European Commission last month warned about the impact on Spanish domestic routes as well as long-haul routes.

"Regarding Air Europa's acquisition, we continue to make progress with the European Commission and have already shared with them the potential airlines that would take over the routes renounced as part of the remedy package," IAG said in a statement in a call with Spanish media outlets.

It added that "as shared before, we have received a lot of interest from different carriers and are working with Avianca, Binter, Iberojet, Ryanair, Volotea, and World2Fly as potential remedy takers both on long-haul and short-haul routes".

IAG has until June 10 to submit remedies.

In February 2023, IAG said it had agreed to pay 400 million euros ($430.84 million) to Spanish tourism company Globalia for the 80% of Air Europa it did not already own in a bid to improve its Latin American market share, expand into Asia and allow its Madrid hub to compete with other major airports in Europe.

IAG Chief Executive Luis Gallego told analysts after reporting first-quarter earnings that the group could pull the plug on its bid for Air Europa if conditions demanded by regulators prove too cumbersome, but he said that IAG wasn't yet at that point.