"Ryanair welcomed the inevitable merger of BA and Iberia to form a 60 million (annual passenger) mega airline, as Europe moves inexorably towards four large airline groups led by Air France, BA, Lufthansa and Ryanair.
In recent years Lufthansa has acquired Swiss, Austrian, SN Brussels Airline and British Midland, as well as a large stake in SAS. Air France has acquired KLM and a large stake in Alitalia. This morning British Airways announced that it will merge with Iberia to form a third big, high fare, fuel surcharging EU airline. While all of these consolidations and mergers are proceeding, Aer Lingus, Ireland’s high fare, loss making, former flag carrier continues to be loss making, and isolated as it is bypassed by the trend of consolidation among high fare European airlines.
Ryanair believes that this is because the Irish Government policy has failed Aer Lingus. It is obvious in a Europe, where there is four large airline groups that Aer Lingus needs a strong and stable partner. Since Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa have no interest in the small, peripheral, loss making Aer Lingus, Ryanair believes it is obvious that the future of Aer Lingus can only be secured as part of one strong Irish airline group, led by Ryanair, which is capable of not just competing with Air France, BA and Lufthansa, but of beating them."
Source: Air Transport News
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