Back to Squawk list
  • 21

French and Germany pressure may force IAG to spin off British Airways

Enviado
 
British Airways’ (BA) parent company IAG could be forced to spin off BA as Germany and France might push to reinstate EU ownership rules. According to HSBC analysts, IAG – who owns the likes of Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling – might be forced to make BA a truly independent company as regulations require airlines that operate within the bloc to be “owned and controlled” by EU companies, the Telegraph reported. (www.cityam.com) Más...

Sort type: [Top] [Newest]


crichardfrancis
Those commenting taboutat various non-EU airlines flying into the EU are missing the point, which about flying *within* the EU. eg Vueling flying from BCN to AMS. And of course it's about commercial advantage for LH, KLM-AF. But equally obviously, all countries use every trick they can to protect or promote their carriers, so moaning about it is just hypocritical.
Propwash122
Peter Fuller 5
1) How is operating flights between the UK and the EU bloc considered “operating within the bloc”?

2) This move seems to merely be a try at gaining advantage for Air France/KLM and Lufthansa at the expense of BA.
nbinfo
Andy Davis 5
I think you all missed the point. IAG owns several EU airlines (Iberia, Aer Lingus, etc) as well as a non-EU airline (BA). Because BA is the biggest proportion of the group, and because of the way the IAG group has made acquisitions, it turns out that quite a lot of the IAG shareholders are Brits. So, IAG struggles to claim that it is truly an EU operator. Aer Lingus, Iberia and so on want to operate "within the bloc", for which they need to be "EU" airlines. It is nothing to do with BA flights, but the solution could be achieved by spinning out BA as a separate entity, since the remaining group could then wrap itself in an EU flag.
ACMierzeje
American, United and Delta all operate in the EU. None have their headquarters in the EU. Either there is another provision of EU law that was not mentioned or HSBC is simply wrong. Note that France and Germany have tried to make Brexit as painful as possible for the UK in order to deter other member states from leaving. In any case, there is more to the matter than this report suggests.
mineshfromhome
Minesh Patel 2
The British people voted to leave Eu.
andyc852
Some did
dnorthern
dnorthern -7
The intelligent ones did vote to leave
crichardfrancis
Endless studies have shown that the remain voters tended to be graduates, while leave voters tended to be non-graduates. Apart from that, the standard response of leavers in dismissing expert opinions tells us all we need to know about intelligence.
tpmorrow
tpmorrow 3
No, quite the opposite: it was the ignorant ones, susceptible to all the hyperbole around immigration, for example, who voted to leave, not the intelligent ones.
chaindot
Davif Smith 0
aahh the sneerings never far from a remainers lips . Do tell which the next dire predictions are
ravanviman
hal pushpak 1
Proof's in the pudding. And it's not looking good for the Brits.. (in more ways than just BA.) Going to be interesting to see how the Airbus airframe consortium works out in the end.
chaindot
Davif Smith 1
Looking fine so far and not one of the very many dire predictions has come to pass . And I speak as a remainer
tpmorrow
tpmorrow 1
Just over half - barely - voted to leave the EU.
chaindot
Davif Smith 1
and just under half voted like I did to remain . Your point is ?
richarddhallam
Richard Hallam 1
Keeping to the subject in hand and not politics from remain voters...again!
Me thinks there is more than a whiff of protectionism here from LH & AF/KLM

crichardfrancis
Well obviously yes. But surely you're not trying to suggest that FR and DE are the only countries in the world who try to aggressively use rules to protect their own airlines or manufacturers. Every country is doing it and have been doing so as long as I can remember, and I've been around since the 50's.

Moaning about EU countries trying to get some commercial advantage out of the UK's unwise decision to leave the club is never going to get a sympathetic audience, especially as many in the UK want to use Brexit to do exactly that: gain a commercial advantage over the EU.
mikehe
*caution - "slightly political" spoiler alert"

This will keep the "Remoaners" happy - *IF* reported accurately. I still sense a modicum of sour grapes from the Franco-German "Maginot Airlines" consortia. Having voted to remain when the UK voted in 2016 on continued membership of the EU, I accept the democratic decision of the UK electorate.

As always, every country will seek to make the best of every situation in which it finds itself. That's just national sovereignty at work.
chaindot
Davif Smith 1
Nailed it !
jdriskell
James Driskell 0
Seems to me that the UK is no longer in the EU. Maybe it's time to tell them to pound sand.
bentwing60
bentwing60 0
Might be a bit of tit for tat for bolting from the EU, though the sot boris seems to have forgotten why he got elected!
dnorthern
dnorthern 0
Shows the immaturity of EU leadership. And the spiteful dad
gzorbas
G Zorbas 3
With Johnson as PM one could consider not bringing in any other countries leadership in any comparison, discussion or argument?
mikehe
Steady on! Could you imagine Jeremy Corbin leading the UK successfully through the COVID crisis? He'd probably try to nationalise the virus!
gzorbas
G Zorbas 1
Jeremy who? LOL
chaindot
Davif Smith 1
Or, Starmer.....
gzorbas
G Zorbas 1
If the saying that states you can't trust politicians and lawyers, that doesn't put Sir Kier in good stead?
crichardfrancis
Are you saying that Johnson *did* lead the UK successfully through Covid? That really isn't supported by facts (and is of course why he's continuing to delay the official inquiry). The UK has the 7th highest number of Covid deaths in the world (as of 14 Feb 2022). As for vaccinations, which he boasts about a lot, 72% of the UK population is fully vaccinated as of 17 Feb 2022, compared to 77% in France, where I live.
chaindot
Davif Smith -1
That, alleged 72% is the 72% that want it . Theres plenty and always was plenty for it to be 100% unlike France for example . The real comparison on death rates is measured by cases in the 100k . This puts England about 33rd
Most actually IN the country and unaffected by the left wing media (BBC et al) or judging from afar and with ill concealed malice feel it has been reasonably successful . Johnson as PM is certainly flawed but who in the UK or for that matter in Europe is not , one way or the other .
crichardfrancis
My sources were Statista and OurWorldInData, respectively. What's your source for saying that there are not enough vaccine doses for the French population? I'm curious because I don't believe it's true. If we, more reasonably, assume that there are enough doses to go around, then the difference would seem to be in motivating people, at which the Brits have clearly been less successful.

Please don't claim that the BBC is "left wing". It is scrupulously unbiased. The only people who claim otherwise spend their time reading rabidly right wing newspapers (Daily Mail, Telegraph, etc.). They find that any outlet which doesn't take such a partisan view is so much of a contrast to this daily diet that they conclude it must be left wing, when in fact it's just neutral.
ravanviman
hal pushpak 1
Heh. Loving this discussion! Not really aviation-related, but very interesting nonetheless.
chaindot
Davif Smith 0
My sources are empirical from the many friends and colleagues throughout europe but mainly france and germany who looked on whilst we were being vaccinated and the commission was doing their usual thing . The fact remains that if anyone wants vaccinating / boosting in the UK then its easily and readily available and has been for longer than most anywhere else .
But, I seriously wondered whether to reply at all after your BBC scrupulously unbiased remark . Jeezz ! That it can still produce or rather outsource a serious programme is not in dispute , so can Al Jazeeras even CNN (!) but unbiased , wow . The sooner its a subscription service the better , and I say that in sorry rather than anger .
crichardfrancis
So none of your sources, for either topic, are based on anything factual. You have said enough. In the absence of verifiable facts any further discussion is pointless. If you could come up with some sort of independent validation of your assertions it might be different, but until then, this discussion is over.
chaindot
Davif Smith 1
Usual flaccid response one expects . Disagree and I’m covering my ears . Last I recall is that France was just above the UK at 204/205 and Germany at just under 200 doses per 100 pop . But the discussion is about the ‘when’ of the doses and as a decision maker the UK nailed it as we witnessed classic Commission flailing .

Several investigations into the BBC’s left wing bias have drawn similar conclusions , especially about its EU vote coverage which was particularly biased and I write as a remainer . Even you’ll be able to find them . But you’ll have to get your trunk out of that Grudian to do it .

Entrar

¿No tienes cuenta? ¡Regístrate ahora (gratis) para acceder a prestaciones personalizadas, alertas de vuelos y mucho más!
¿Sabías que el rastreo de vuelos de FlightAware se sostiene gracias a los anuncios?
Puedes ayudarnos a que FlightAware siga siendo gratuito permitiendo que aparezcan los anuncios de FlightAware.com. Trabajamos arduamente para que nuestros anuncios sean discretos y de interés para el rubro a fin de crear una experiencia positiva. Es rápido y fácil whitelist ads en FlightAware o por favor considera acceder a nuestras cuentas premium.
Descartar