Finnair (AY, Helsinki Vantaa) President and CEO, Pekka Vauramo, has ruled out any possibility of his airline joining the International Airline Group (IAG) in the near future. The BuyingBusinessTravel magazine quotes Vauramo as saying a key obstacle to change in ownership of the airline is existing Finnish legislation governing the airline's ownership structure.
“Finnair is a 56% government-owned business. According to Finnish law, the majority ownership needs to remain with the Finnish government unless the Finnish Parliament decides differently,” he said. “The debate is ongoing, but it needs to lead to a decision before anything can move on, so it’s a little too early to start thinking about that.”
Speculation about a possible privatization of the carrier has grown in recent years mostly due to the airline's struggling financials but also as a result of its successful joint transatlantic business with fellow Oneworld members British Airways (BA, London Heathrow), Iberia (IB, Madrid Barajas), American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) and US Airways (Phoenix Sky Harbor) and with British Airways and JAL - Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda) on flights to Japan.
