The international merger between British Airways and Iberia was recently announced. This integration will give birth to the world’s third largest airline. Achieving this result however was not an easy process. Through many discussions around aspects such as the funding of their pension scheme, British Airways and Iberia eventually found a way to overcome them and reach an agreement.
Now that the European Commission and Merger Regulations Agency has validated the deal, nothing stands between this merger. The new entity, based in London, will be called International Airlines Group and the shareholders of British Airways will own 55% of the company. The Iberia and British Airways brands will continue to exist while the group will now be able to offer flights to more than 200 destinations around the world, carrying over 60 million passengers each year.
While this merger will bring many advantages to both the companies and their customers such as cutting costs and improved competition, there are also likely to be many challenges for employees of both companies. The fact that British and Spanish cultures can be really different will very likely create pitfalls and obstacles that will be hard to overcome with a high level of cultural understanding and sensitivity that you can get from intercultural training courses.