Originally Posted by
MUFC_fan
Upon the marriage of BA and Iberia, MAD will look very unlikely. People seem to think that, like with the AA move, it will be better for the regions. Maybe so, but only in the form of shuttle runs to LHR.
UK-(BA)-LHR-(BA/IB)-MAD/BCN-(IB)-Spain will be the general pattern if you wish to travel with Oneworld.
Unless one of the LCCs are looking that is...
On the contrary, I would think the tie-up of BA/IB will make a MAN-MAD service more likely. If the ethos of the merger is as reported - to exploit the strength of BA to North America, and IB to South America, then it would make no sense to route people from the regions through both LHR and MAD when they could go directly to MAD and onwards to Brazil/Chile etc.
If BA/IB judge that MAN can generate sufficient point-to-point traffic and transit traffic to make it worthwhile then it is likely to happen, especially with IB having the (presumably cheaper) option of Air Nostrum. You would hope that the extra transit traffic that the merger may generate would tip the balance on the beancounter's spreadsheet.