The purchase of Air Europa by IAG is progressing, although it still has to pass the main procedure, which is the approval of Brussels. The holding company presented its proposed routes, known as remedies, to the European Commission last week. “We thus anticipated the official deadlines that did not require presenting them for two months,” company sources point out.
The objective is to receive approval from the Competition authorities. IAG adds that its proposal for remedies “is very ambitious, responds to the concerns indicated by the Commission and guarantees the entry of new competition on a large number of routes.”
But the airline group is aware of the difficulties and highlights the “rigority of the Commission’s scrutiny.” “We anticipate that you may have objections to this proposal at first, but we are convinced that we will be able to resolve these concerns in the remainder of the process,” the company explains.
The European Commission will set the bar high for the operation, the Financial Times newspaper published last week. The community Executive is preparing the demand for greater concessions to the airline group, he added.
IAG considers that the operation is “positive” and that it will allow Spain to be better connected. “This operation increases connectivity and competition, it does not reduce it.” And he concludes: “It would be a detriment for Spain not to achieve at the Madrid-Barajas airport the same conditions enjoyed by other hubs in France, Germany or Holland.”
