International Airlines Group (IAG) intends to complete its acquisition of Air Europa, which potentially has quite some implications for consumers…
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The basics of IAG’s acquisition of Air Europa
In November 2019, it was announced that IAG intended to acquire Air Europa for €1 billion. For context, IAG is the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling, and LEVEL. Since IAG already owns Iberia, the intent was that this would turn Madrid into a true global airline hub that can compete with the other mega gateways in Europe.
Furthermore, the plan was for Air Europa to leave SkyTeam, join the oneworld transatlantic joint venture, and adopt Avios as its points currency.
IAG’s acquisition of Air Europa wasn’t finalized before the start of the pandemic, and as you’d expect, that had an impact on the purchase price. IAG could pay a fee to call off the takeover, and then start from scratch and negotiate a better deal. Specifically, an agreement was reached for the purchase price to be decreased to €500 million, with deferred payment schedule.
In August 2022, IAG acquired a 20% stake in Air Europa for €100 million. However, up until now there haven’t been many concrete details about the timeline for the remaining 80% being acquired.
IAG will purchase remaining 80% stake in Air Europa
IAG has announced that it intends to purchase the remaining 80% stake of Air Europa for €400 million. The way this is structured:
- The first €200 million will be paid once the deal gets the go-ahead from antitrust authorities
- Another €100 million will be paid in IAG shares once the deal closes
- Another €100 million will be paid in cash once the deal closes
The current plan is that this acquisition will be completed within the next 18 months, so that puts us somewhere around mid to late 2024.
IAG states that this acquisition will help it improve its position in the Latin American market and expand in Asia, while allowing Madrid to compete with other major gateways. Furthermore, the hope is to achieve significant cost savings, with peak synergies expected between 2026 and 2028.
Interestingly the intent is for the Iberia and Air Europa brands to be maintained independently, even though Air Europa will be managed by Iberia.
A few thoughts:
- Regulators have expressed concerns in the past about this takeover, so let’s see how much pushback IAG faces
- It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that the plan is for Air Europe and Iberia to maintain separate brands, since it’s not clear what exactly would differentiate them, and it will only cause brand confusion; I’m not sure if this is being done to try to appease regulators, or what
- I’m curious to see if Air Europa would actually be added to the oneworld transatlantic joint venture, or if that also faces regulatory scrutiny
Bottom line
IAG is intending to acquire full control of Air Europa. The new terms have now been fully laid out, and IAG will pay €400 million to acquire the remaining 80% stake in the airline. It’s expected that this will take around 18 months, and if approved, Air Europa will likely leave SkyTeam, but will still maintain its own brand.
There’s still a big chance that regulators try to block this, so we’ll have to see how this plays out.
What do you make of IAG acquiring Air Europa?
Where do you get that the intent is to keep both brands going forward?
Not what we are reading here in Spain...
We'd all be better off if LH had gone after Air Europa, and IAG got ITA
Hope OneWorld adds aireuropa and Aer Lingus
I get the whole "eliminating a competitor" thing but IAG and ow are weak on the continent. MAD and HEL are on the fringes of Europe, as is LHR, and they could really use a central continental Euro carrier. LOT maybe.
Mergers are bad for the consumer and the employee. Competition keeps each other’s prices in check and make travel more affordable. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for IAG to acquire Air Europa. Now people in have fewer options. I’m pretty sure there are plenty of Spaniards who dislike IB but still want to travel the world on their own country’s carrier. I’m pretty sure Germans would love an alternative to LH. Look...
Mergers are bad for the consumer and the employee. Competition keeps each other’s prices in check and make travel more affordable. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for IAG to acquire Air Europa. Now people in have fewer options. I’m pretty sure there are plenty of Spaniards who dislike IB but still want to travel the world on their own country’s carrier. I’m pretty sure Germans would love an alternative to LH. Look at the UK with British and Virgin successfully coexisting. Look at Taiwan with half the population and now three FSCs. They value the public having options. Now Skyteam won’t have much of a presence in Southwestern Europe or the Europe to Latin America / South America market. TAP in Star, Iberia in oneworld, and Air Europa in Skyteam was perfectly balanced as all things should be. And aesthetically I just can’t picture an Iberia 737 or 787.
I still can't see what their business model is supposed to be. The route network of IB and UX is largely overlapping. Both are full service airlines on long haul flights as well as European style shorthaul business class. The only strategy that could make sense is to close down large parts of UX in order to eliminate a competitor ...
hard to believe the EU would approve this while still not approving the Korean/Asiana merger which is equally about eliminating a competitor.
Good. I hope the Korean/Asiana merger falls through. Mergers hurt the consumer, and in many cases, also the employees.
the whole reason Korean/Asiana was proposed was because the Korean development bank - whatever it is called - invested in Asiana which was financially weak even before covid. S. Korea, like many countries in Asia - cannot support two global airlines. Asiana has tried hard to stay neck in neck w/ Korean and it is doubtful that either can achieve a decent level of profitability.
Unlike E. Asia, the EU allows cross-country competition but...
the whole reason Korean/Asiana was proposed was because the Korean development bank - whatever it is called - invested in Asiana which was financially weak even before covid. S. Korea, like many countries in Asia - cannot support two global airlines. Asiana has tried hard to stay neck in neck w/ Korean and it is doubtful that either can achieve a decent level of profitability.
Unlike E. Asia, the EU allows cross-country competition but Spain has a healthy domestic market while there is very little in S. Korea.
S. Korea has decide what it wants - airlines aren't the only industry where there is intense S. Korean competition with not necessarily great financial results from multiple companies.
The EU and US are a little more pragmatic about allowing mergers when financial results demonstrate it is necessary to do so.
How many brands and versions of Avios does IAG need? LH's strategy is much more rational. IAG should simplify into flag carriers (BA, AerL, Iberia) and one discount brand (Vueling? Level? OpenSkies?), and then save their marketing spending to improve the IT backbone of all these airlines. They should just create a white label platform and then slap on the right branding depending on the carrier.
LH's strategy isn't rational either. They've got a bunch of brands that are hard to differentiate as well. In fact, LH may have the most baffling "strategy" of all. Frankly, the most rational European airline group is Air France/KLM. The two airlines maintain separate identities, yet compliment each other perfectly.
They barely complement each other. Many in KLM feels AF dominates the partnership like an abusive partner, and it is evident on the fractured aircraft deliveries over the years with the A350s and B787s
I disagree -- actually think the LH group (as a company) could benefit from less differentiation between their flag carriers. Its irrational that they have different fleets, seat maps, catering. Swiss has the throne seat in business, while Austrian has the best airline catering and coffee. Lufthansa is pretty generic. But at least their FF program is unified, as is KLM/AF Flying Blue.
This reminds me a little bit of China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines... I thought Shanghai Airlines was more of a domestic subsidiary but then pre-pandemic, I flew a Shanghai Airlines 787 from PVG to BUD on a 787. Everything else onboard was branded as China Eastern, but the livery was Shanghai Airlines. I am still not sure why they maintain separate branding.
this one is easy - it is because Shanghai City government wants planes flying its the city name around the globe
FM was originally owned by Shanghai City Gov. While CES,CSN,CCA were centralized corp from day 1.
Would be nice to keep LHR largely an O/D market and use Madrid to funnel connections. LHR has to be my least favorite airport to connect in.
Ony id IAG funds staff for all the empty booths at MAD's passport control points. Those lines can already stretch over an hour.
Informative article, thanks. BUT I find it misleading to say that the main intent is to turn Madrid into a truly global hub. That may be a side benefit, but -- as with most takeovers -- the main intent is to eliminate competition, assume greater market share, and make greater profits. If previous such takeovers are any guide, this will lead to higher consumer prices, declining service, and significant layoffs as the new company seeks...
Informative article, thanks. BUT I find it misleading to say that the main intent is to turn Madrid into a truly global hub. That may be a side benefit, but -- as with most takeovers -- the main intent is to eliminate competition, assume greater market share, and make greater profits. If previous such takeovers are any guide, this will lead to higher consumer prices, declining service, and significant layoffs as the new company seeks to eliminate 'redundancies.' No wonder regulators are scrutinizing this. Anyway, we shall see...
As a MAD O/D flier, I only see this as bad news.
Meanwhile, Level continues to survive as a brand without a purpose or much visibility.
Why not fold the two together into a single LCC model that serves Latin America and parts of the US on a budget travel basis?
Same. One LCC for short and long haul can streamline operations. This reminds me of Japan where Zipair Tokyo (long haul only) a separate entity from Jetstar Japan (short haul only) when they could easily just have Jetstar Japan acquire 787-8s and be both a short and long haul LCC just like it’s Australian counterpart. Or even transfer all of the Jetstar A320s to Zipair. At the same time, I think the idea of having...
Same. One LCC for short and long haul can streamline operations. This reminds me of Japan where Zipair Tokyo (long haul only) a separate entity from Jetstar Japan (short haul only) when they could easily just have Jetstar Japan acquire 787-8s and be both a short and long haul LCC just like it’s Australian counterpart. Or even transfer all of the Jetstar A320s to Zipair. At the same time, I think the idea of having a variety of liveries could be aesthetically cool the same way having a bunch of redundant hotel brands is.
I think the JetStar branding could cost JAL more, while ZIPAIR branding isn't as appeal to travellers as JetStar.
Air Europa is kind of budget airline/brand, while Iberia seems to be more "full feature airline". That said the difference between the two is not that large, with Iberia level akin to American and BA.
In all honesty, having flown both IB and UX somewhat regularly, both of them seem to offer a ver similar service. If anything, I'd say that for my latest travels I have noticed UX has a bit more legroom than IB (and based on a quick search, it's usually 28 v 29 inches) and I tend to find IB's FAs to be less attentive and more uninterested than UX's and LH's (Germany-based).
I have...
In all honesty, having flown both IB and UX somewhat regularly, both of them seem to offer a ver similar service. If anything, I'd say that for my latest travels I have noticed UX has a bit more legroom than IB (and based on a quick search, it's usually 28 v 29 inches) and I tend to find IB's FAs to be less attentive and more uninterested than UX's and LH's (Germany-based).
I have always inclined more towards IB (their Latin America network fitted my work trips best), but with no travel to the region ever since and resultantly my status gone, I find myself booking the two airlines mentioned above when I have to go to Spain.
I guess we'll see them at JFK's T8?
Air Europa was at T4 this past Thanksgiving and it was a clusterf! I have lived in NY my entire life and do not ever remember having taken a bus to a plane at JFK or LGA in the middle of the airfield.
But, my wife and I got 2 of the last business seats being offered through AF/Sky Team for 108K return during Thanksgiving week. For our trip in February, Air Europa no longer came up.