The planned takeover of Air Europa by the International Airlines Group is not in the towel. The EU Commission has initiated an in-depth review process and the IAG now considers a prohibition to be at least possible.

Although the International Airlines Group has already made some concessions by voluntarily surrendering take-off and landing rights to Volotea and World2Fly, this seems to be too little for the competition authorities in Brussels so far. the The deadline for the decision has been extended and especially the impact on prices in Spain will be examined more closely.

A look at Air Transat and Air Canada shows that the failure of the deal due to rejection by the EU Commission is a real scenario. The European authorities brought down the proposed acquisition and Air Canada then withdrew the offer and the application for approval. The purchase by another investor also turned out to be wasted time for Air Transat, because this deal also failed, albeit not because of the EU Commission, because it never got that far.

International Airlines Group would pull "Plan B"

IAG boss Luis Gallego emphasized on the sidelines of a press conference that they had a plan B if the takeover of Air Europa should fail. Among other things, this stipulates that the existing subsidiaries, primarily Iberia, should grow strongly in Madrid. They want to increase the importance of the hub. At the same time one wants to sign further agreements with airlines in South America. The priority, however, is that the purchase of Air Europa “goes through”. The International Airlines Group seems to be slowly losing patience.

In the event of failure, the future of Air Europa would be completely open, because state aid granted via Sepi is linked to a takeover by IAG with regard to the business plan. However, it is unlikely that the loans will then be due immediately, as there are so many Spanish jobs attached to Air Europa. Owner Globalia would then have to find a new solution or continue to go on alone.