European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Mergers: Commission approves acquisition of Aer Lingus by IAG, subject to conditions
The clearance decision is conditional upon the following commitments, which address the Commission’s concerns:
* the release of five daily slot pairs at London-Gatwick airport to facilitate the entry of competing airlines on routes from London to both Dublin and Belfast ; and
* Aer Lingus continuing to carry connecting passengers to use the long-haul flights of competing airlines out of London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick, Manchester, Amsterdam, Shannon and Dublin .
IAG submitted:
* IAG submitted commitments to release five daily slot pairs at London Gatwick which can be used on the specific routes of concern, namely Dublin–London and Belfast–London. The availability of these slots, and other incentives such as the acquisition of grandfathering rights after a certain period of time, facilitate the entry of competing airlines.
* Furthermore, IAG made a commitment to enter into agreements with competing airlines which operate long-haul flights out of London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester, Amsterdam, Shannon and Dublin so that Aer Lingus will continue to provide these airlines with connecting passengers. Passengers will therefore continue to have a choice to use other airlines than IAG when connecting at these airports, for instance on Heathrow–New York, Gatwick–Las Vegas, Manchester–Orlando, Amsterdam–Singapore, Shannon–Chicago, and Dublin–Chicago.
They were not forced to exit BHD-LGW.