Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) has its eye on the slots that IAG International Airlines Group is likely to be compelled to dispose of if the group’s planned acquisition of Air Europa (UX, Palma de Mallorca) is to be approved by the European Commission, the business newspaper Cinco Dias reported on June 12.
The budget carrier is closely following the integration process involving Air Europa and IAG’s Iberia (IB, Madrid Barajas), its communications manager for Spain and Portugal, Elena Cabrera, told the daily - as much for the assets it will have to let go of as for the combination of two competitors.
“It seems to us to be an operation that makes perfect sense. In Europe there are too many companies, and mergers fall within the logic of the market. We are following the process because we are interested in the possible release of slots at different airports,” she said.
“Slots would fit us both in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, and here in Madrid, but in reality we are open to any opportunity that arises because we are in a growth phase in Spain,” she added.
The Irish airline will fight for “an objective distribution” if the possibility arises that the Spanish flag carrier tries to get the deal cleared by proposing which parts of the business and to which companies it carries out its concessions. In the first attempt to buy Air Europa, in early 2020, Iberia proposed that Volotea (V7, Barcelona El Prat) take over select slots and routes to and from Spain in the short-haul market and World2Fly (Spain) (2W, Palma de Mallorca) in the long haul. This did not impress the antitrust regulator in Brussels, however.
Cabrera explained that Ryanair would try to ensure Iberia is not “the one that decides who delivers the production, because the normal thing is that someone is chosen who does not represent real competition.”
