Link Securities | The European Commission (EC) explained on Friday morning the reasons why it opposed the purchase of Air Europa by IAG, according to Expansión. Iberia’s parent company announced on Thursday that it was abandoning the operation due to the EC’s demands, as it considered that the acquisition would no longer make sense if it had complied with them.
The merger between the two would have adversely affected competition on a large number of domestic, short-haul and long-haul routes in, to and from Spain where the two airlines compete directly, said Competition Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager. We were concerned that the transaction could have caused adverse effects for passengers (businesses and individuals) in the form of higher prices or lower quality of services. IAG offered divestments, but, according to the market test carried out, they did not address our competition concerns, she added. IAG offered to divest 52% of the routes operated by Air Europa in Madrid last year.
