IAG/ BMI clearance
GUEST COLUMN The development below to an extent provides an insight into how airline mergers are treated in the EU- Neelam Mathews By: Suzanne Rab Partner King & Spalding April 4, 2012 On 2 April 2012, the European Commission cleared International Consolidated Airline Group's (IAG) acquisition of British Midlands (BMI). The Commission accepted conditions that British Airways, owner of IAG, release 14 slots at Heathrow and commit to provide competing long-haul flight operators with passengers who are connecting at Heathrow. The Commission stated that its investigation initially found that the transaction risked creating monopolies on a number of domestic, European and international routes out of Heathrow which was found to be Europe's busiest passenger airport. Of the divested slots, 7 relate to domestic and 5 to medium-haul routes and two additional slots will be released to Transaero, a Russian airline It was always expected that it would be cha...