Merchant News – British Airways is going to woo Caja Madrid, the saving bank that has a key hold in Iberia, in order to try to persuade the Spanish carrier into joining a 3-way merger. British Airways sources say that they plan to merge with Qantas first, which involves developing a dual-listed corporate structure. Then they plan to merge the two companies with Iberia. The final structuring of a deal with Qantas may be complete early next year, with a deal to follow with Iberia a few months after that.
Iberia and British Airways have been in merger talks for about 5 months now, but finalizing a deal has been delayed due to worsening pension deficit at British Airways. Executives at Iberia were stunned when British Airways announced merger talks with Qantas last week, which was initiated in August by the Australian carrier.
