The International Airlines Group (IAG), Iberia’s parent company, is considering bidding in the privatisation of TAP, in parallel with the process of buying Air Europa, if the move makes sense for the company and it is allowed to participate in the process.
“We will see what the Portuguese government considers in this process and analyse if it is interesting for IAG,” the executive chairman of the aviation group, Luis Gallego, told Spanish news agency EFE.
Gallego, currently attending the 79th general assembly of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), stressed that the group is always looking for consolidation opportunities.
He recalled, for example, that it analysed buying Norwegian but never put it into effect, while it continues to try for Air Europa, a purchase that depends on the level of requirements that the competition authorities and the European Commission impose.
“TAP may be an option, but first, we have to see under what conditions it will be privatised and if it makes sense for our network and customers,” he said.
He explained that, in principle, the markets in which Air Europa and TAP operate are complementary, as the latter mainly flies to Brazil, where its group has little presence. So “there could be two operations running in parallel”.
On the proximity between Lisbon airport and Madrid-Barajas airport, he commented that the IAG group, being international and with several airlines (Iberia, British Airways, Vueling, Aer Lingus, Iberia Express and Level) works, for example, in the North Atlantic, with a double ‘hub’ structure: Dublin and London.
This type of concern also arose with the Aer Lingus purchase operation, he acknowledged, explaining that at that time, he questioned: “whether its integration into IAG was going to be bad for the Irish company because BA could somehow devour it”. “And that hasn’t been the case,” he added.
In his opinion, the IAG model is the best as it is less commercially and network integrated, and the brands retain their identity, customers, and revenues.
“We are a single model”, which does not have as much overlap between the group’s different brands, he stressed.
In his opinion, when the conditions of the TAP privatisation process are made public, the three major European groups in the network – IAG, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa – will “at least” see if they have an interest.
Regarding Air Europa, the IAG aviation group has already had its first meetings with the European Commission.
On the outlook for this year, he said that it is not known whether the current traffic growth will be maintained over time.
The second and third quarters have good prospects, but the last one of the year remains unknown, as corporate traffic is still below 2019 levels. In addition, there are many uncertainties, such as the war in Ukraine and the price of fuel, among others.
(Susana Oliveira | Lusa.pt)
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