British Airways has reached the final stages of its merger with Iberia, and is now expected to complete the deal in November.
     International Airlines Group will be the name of the merged group – although BA and Iberia will retain separate identities as far as passengers are concerned.
     Announcing the completion of arrangements, BA confirmed that Willie Walsh will be chief executive and Iberia’s Antonio Vazquez will be chairman. The operational base will be at Heathrow.
     The deal recreates the two loss making companies as the second biggest airline in Europe in terms of passenger numbers.
    The final completion of the merger is still subject to regulatory approval from the relevant competition authorities including the European Commission and to approval by both British Airways and Iberia shareholders, with BA’s pension arrangements a significant element.
    The merged group will have revenues of around £12 billion, have 408 aircraft and carry around 58 million passengers if present levels are reflected.
    Antonio Vazquez, Iberia’s chairman and chief executive, said: “This is an important step in the process towards creating one of the world’s leading global airlines that will be better equipped to compete with other major airlines and participate in future industry consolidation. We look forward to concluding the deal before the year end.”
   Willie Walsh, British Airways chief executive, said: “The merged company will provide customers with a larger combined network. It will also have greater potential for further growth by optimising the dual hubs of London and Madrid and providing continued investment in new products and services.”

    British Airways has resumed operations after the second walk-out by a large section of its cabin crew workforce - and says it flew over 80 per cent of its customers despite the action.
    “I want to thank the many thousands of our customers who have shown their patience and support by flying with us during Unite’s industrial action”, said chief executive Willie Walsh.
    “We have flown well over 80 percent of the customers who were originally booked for travel in the strike period. And we were able to rebook most of the rest on to British Airways flights on other dates or on to other carriers.
     “Inevitably there have been some disappointments, and I am deeply sorry for those customers whose plans have been disrupted.
    “We have seen a fantastic effort by dedicated staff across British Airways to keep the flag flying. I particularly want to thank our regular cabin crew – more than 60 percent have ignored the strike call and turned up to serve our customers alongside our volunteers.
    ”Unite has failed to ground British Airways. We have put a fair and sensible offer to the union, and I hope it will now allow its members to vote on it.
    “Let us work together to create an airline that can invest in better services for our customers and provide long-term opportunities for all our staff. An airline that is great. An airline for the future”, he said.
    Unite, however, appears to be preparing for a long dispute – and says it is arranging an ”unprecedented levy” on the its branches to create a £700,000 fighting fund.

   British Airways will increase the number of flights for the second wave of strikes as more cabin crew say they will report for work.
   As thousands of Unite members ended a three-day walkout, BA said it planned to run 55% of short-haul and 70% of long-haul flights from Heathrow during the four-day walkout from this Saturday. It’s operations at Gatwick and London City were expected to run normally.
   The airline said it would continue to supplement its short-haul schedule by leasing up to 11 aircraft with pilots and crews each day of the action from six different airlines based in the UK and Europe.
   ”The biggest contingency plan in our history went extremely well last weekend, with large numbers of cabin crew reporting for work as normal,” said Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive.
    “This second strike is the work of a trade union that – despite its promises – seems determined to try to ruin the Easter holiday plans of thousands of families.
    “Once again the union has misjudged the public mood. Our flag will continue to fly. We will do all we can to rebook affected customers on to other British Airways’ flights, offer seats on alternative airlines or give a full refund.
    ”I stress again that our door remains open to Unite, day or night, if it wants to find a sensible settlement” , he added.
    BA said its flight programme involved 230 aircraft operating up to 650 services every day to or from 140 cities in more than 70 countries.
Customers were advised to check www.ba.com to see if their flight was still operating before departing for the airport.
    The airline said the three-day strike, which ended at midnight on Monday, cost it £21 million. The union ruled out strikes over Easter but has warned of further action from mid-April if the deadlock is not broken.
    BA said contingency plans to cope with the strike were “very successful”, and results for the year to March 31 would be “broadly unchanged”.
    Although BA said the outlook for the year was unchanged, it remains on course for record losses after racking up pre-tax loss of £342 million in the nine months to December 31.