IAG MULLS LOW COSTS CARRIER MERGER POTENTIAL BUT SHOULD THE REAL TARGET NOT BE AIR MALTA OR RUSSIA?

Willie Walsh, chief executive of International Consolidated Airlines, the company formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberia, has indicated the group would consider adding a low cost discount airline. At the ICBI Aircraft Finance and Commercial Aviation conference in Geneva, Walsh said he saw “no reason it can’t happen.” Walsh has made no secret of his desire to seek new merger partners for the group and is indeed proactively seeking them. Nonetheless, the mainstream press has been excitedly predicting which airlines Walsh would target. Air Berlin, already a member of the Oneworld alliance, has been touted as a