British Airways Interested in Merger with Qantas

BA and Qantas discussed the possibility of a merger in 2008

According to BA's Chief Executive Willie Walsh, British Airways would be more than a little interested in discussing a merger with Australia's top airline Qantas - if Qantas would be willing to discuss it.

This bit of information was revealed in a recent interview with newspaper The Australian Financial Review and published the day after BA and airline Iberia announced that they had identified possible targets for acquisition to be looked at once their own merger was complete.

"We've done the work in our discussions with them two years ago and we know there's a strong case there - it's definitely something that would be interesting in the future if Qantas were like-minded."

Mr Walsh goes on to state, "I don't see any evidence of Alan [Joyce] wanting to pursue that at this stage, but that may change." Mr Joyce is CEO at Qantas.

The original talks of merger took place between the two airlines in 2008 under then Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon. At the time, Qantas ended the talks due to a disagreement over the airline's valuations. But now, under the leadership of Mr Joyce, Qantas has cast its gaze on the Asia-Pacific region, a region where BA and Iberia are also focussed on.

"We have not had talks with BA on potential mergers since December 2008," a Qantas spokesman says. "We enjoy a strong relationship with both BA and Iberia, both bilaterally and as OneWorld partners."

Whether Qantas entertains BA's advances is yet to be seen. Meanwhile, we can enjoy flights from the UK to Australia on either airline.

Posted by Sophie, 10 September 2010 16:21

News tags

• British Airways
• Iberia
• Qantas