American Airlines and British Airways have been seeking to strengthen their ties with one another. British Airways is already in talks with Spain’s Iberia in a merger deal, however a move with American could lock up more routes / strengthen routes across the Atlantic. Both airlines are dominant at London’s Heathrow airport and are both apart of the OneWorld Alliance. The Open Skies agreement can only help facilitate this; meanwhile Virgin Atlantic strongly opposes the prospective plans.
Everyone knew that this was going to happen eventually. British Airways and American Airlines have been good friends for years. It almost reminds me of when British Airways had their ties with US Air in the mid 1990′s. Perhaps something like that will develop. Any thoughts?
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AA and BA have been trying to get close for years without an outright merger. They probably would try to merge but I’m sure the governments would not let it happen.
Yeah, I don’t think we’ll ever see an American based airline merge with a European carrier anytime soon.