Originally Posted by
Tartiflette Fan
"BA's one weakness here is that given a long enough downturn, they will require government support of some kind (above and beyond the furlough scheme). In fact, IAG have already blinked slightly and weakened their position by accepting the spanish government loan, highlighting their hypocrisy to the more observant MPs."
Isn't this weakness equally the weakness of the employees who will will suffer it five-fold ? As for the Spanish subsidy, isn't that simply a recognition of the weakness of those parts of the business and is totally irrelevant as far as BA is concerned ? It has often been quoted here that BA has reserves/draw-down facilities up to € 9 Bn, so there is no way they can reasonably approach the British government for any kind of specific company subsidy/loan/guarantee.
You're not thinking long term enough. BA will burn through the cash and eventually be forced to seek state aid. It's just happened a lot quicker at some other airlines.