Business 1-0-1; the simple question is this ... why would anyone want to buy EI?
FR has a reason; kill off a competitor they have been unable to dislodge. This has been blocked by the EU.
But owning EI makes precious little sense for any other European airline.
- EI is a small, peripheral operator, serving a small market and has historical and deeply embedded operational and work practice issues (and I include the management in that).
- The 'major' European airlines have their own issues and preserving their capital/cash is a priority, not splashing it on, at best, a minnow in the market.
- EI's home market is potentially the most damaged economy in the Eurozone right now, which will significantly effect its revenues for quite some time to come.
Other than the LHR slots, what value does EI represent? (if the third runway ever gets built then the value of said slots will be reduced).
Certainly a number of smaller players could come together in a merger and effect some operational efficiencies (synergies in management speak) and EI could potential benefit from that.
But if your going to speculate on a takeover, then at least try to explain why the acquirer would bother.
JAS