IAG's bid to buy out Air Europa may reduce competition, EU says

British Airways owner IAG's bid to buy out Air Europa may reduce competition on domestic, short-haul and long-haul routes, EU antitrust regulators said on Wednesday as they opened a full-scale probe into the E400m deal. The deal underlines the wave of consolidation among airlines, with Germany's Lufthansa seeking to buy a minority stake in Italy's state-owned ITA Airways, and Korean Air looking to buy Asiana. IAG, which also owns Iberia, said last February it had agreed to buy the 80% of Air Europa it did not already own from Spain's Globalia. They scrapped a previous deal in 2021 after EU regulators indicated their remedies were insufficient to alleviate the competition concerns. The EC said the deal may lessen competition on domestic routes to the Balearic and Canary islands. It said the deal may also reduce competition on short-haul routes between Madrid and the main cities in Europe, Israel, Morocco, the UK and Switzerland.<br/>