The Catalan competition watchdog (Autoritat Catalana de la Competència - ACCO) has said that it would need to conduct an in-depth analysis of the potential takeover of Norwegian by IAG International Airlines Group since it could threaten the competition at the region's main gateway at Barcelona El Prat, La Vanguardia has reported.
"[The merger] could reduce competition and have negative effects on the welfare of the citizens of Catalonia, since both companies are very significant market players at the airport of Barcelona," ACCO has indicated.
IAG already owns Barcelona-based Vueling Airlines (VY, Barcelona El Prat), which, according to the ch-aviation capacity module, is the market leader at the airport with 1,340 weekly departures and 40.2% market share by capacity.
The Catalan hub is also the base for IAG's long-haul low-cost virtual unit, LEVEL (Barcelona El Prat). The three remaining group units, Iberia, British Airways, and Aer Lingus, also operate to Barcelona.
Between its two units, Norwegian and Norwegian Air International, the Norwegian Group operates 121 weekly departures out of Barcelona El Prat and holds a 3.7% market share by capacity.
"A very preliminary analysis indicates that over 17 flights from the El Prat airport overlap between Norwegian and the airlines of the IAG group," ACCO has said.
According to the watchdog, if the merger goes ahead, competition would be reduced or even eliminated on the routes to, inter alia, Dubrovnik, Gothenburg Landvetter, Los Angeles International, Oakland International, Copenhagen Kastrup, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Gran Canaria, Helsinki Vantaa, Reykjavik Keflavik, Oslo Gardermoen, and many others.
IAG has recently announced it had acquired a 4.6% stake in Norwegian and may consider further acquisitions, including an option of a full takeover. Such a merger would be subject to the European Commission's approval. Norwegian has not confirmed it is looking for a new investor to take over the company.
