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BA is entering conciliation talks with pilots in a bid to head off a walkout over pay at the height of the summer travel season. The unit of IAG SA will meet with the BALPA union at the UK’s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service on Monday, spokespeople for the two sides said. The talks, which will focus on share awards and profit-sharing terms, come ahead of a July 22 deadline for pilots to vote in a strike ballot. BA had been facing pay disputes with unions representing flight attendants and ground staff, as well as pilots, but said Friday it had reached agreement with unions representing the first two groups. The ability of cockpit crews to ground flights means they pose a bigger threat to BA CEO Alex Cruz’s bid to cuts costs and combat discounter rivals such as EasyJet. If BALPA members back a strike, it must give two weeks’ notice ahead of any walkout, with the result valid for six months. The labor group declined to comment further, while BA urged it to follow the Unite and GMB unions in recommending a “fair and generous pay offer” to staff.<br/>

British Airways owner IAG said it has no plans to revive a bid for discount rival Norwegian Air Shuttle following a Spanish report that an offer was likely to be made in the next 15 days. The airline group intended to make an approach worth about $1.2b, according to Okdiario newspaper. That’s based on a share price of 70-85 kroner, almost double Norwegian’s current market value of $652m. Okdiario said JPMorgan was advising on the deal. “We have said many times in the past few months that we are no longer interested in Norwegian Air,” IAG spokeswoman Laura Goodes said Friday. “Nothing has changed.” The stock rose as much 12% despite the denial. IAG attempted to buy Norwegian last year, but abandoned the effort in January. A renewed pursuit would come amid signs it might encounter less resistance from Norwegian’s board, according to Okdiario, which didn’t name sources.<br/>