The point still stands that BA are no longer the "national" airline for the UK
The point still stands that BA is a private company and has to turn a profit. The short-haul networks on BHX, GLA, MAN, etc.. fell victim to the no-frills operators. It was also more cost-effective for alliance partner airlines to do the trans-Atlantic routes and feed their hubs. Regretable agreed, but an unfortunate fact of life.
We have to forget about BA (and other national carriers) being publicly owned and government run, fares the same on all carriers and fixed by IATA, and no capacity crunch at LHR. Those days are long gone, and commercial realities are what matters.
They only connect to 6 .....from Heathrow !
Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow , Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
My point was very much about BA connectivity from the UK regions to Heathrow !
Point taken. It's 7 BTW, you forgot Belfast Harbour, plus 3 from LGW (EDI,GLA,JER) and 2 from LCY (EDI,GLA).
With the saga over the 3rd runway at LHR continuing to drag on, BA needs a backup plan for expansion. This could be perfect.
How true, but there's another dimension: if EI gets sold, it might as well be to IAG for all the reasons mentioned above PLUS the strategic one. That is to prevent another carrier buying it. Why is this critical? Because another carrier might asset-strip EI's LHR slots in the same way that BD's were by LH after 2009.
BA doesn't need EI's LHR slots, so no need for BA to "takeover" EI,
but it does need to prevent EI's LHR slots going to a third party. Access to the growing Dublin TA business and pre-clearance is the icing on the cake.
Reading through this thread, there appears to be fundamental misunderstanding of how elements of the aviation industry work.
Not just this thread.
If you can offer a similar product (comfortable, punctual, friendly, safe) TA hubbing through a modern & not so busy airport with the added bonus of preclearance so you arrive in the US as a domestic, then brand A vs brand B becomes a pricing issue rather than loyalty or flag waving argument. If you can deliver a comparable product at a lower price than the incumbent then you'll take a fair chunk of 'their' customers (or so the theory goes).
The EI model does appear to be working, if someone wanted a piece of that action, what's their best way to attack the market? Purchase the incumbent (which grows your market share while taking out a competitor) or start from scratch with lower overheads?
IAG has to ensure that it's IAG that takes that action and no one else.
IMHO and it is just my opinion, Aer Lingus gobbled up by International Consolidated Airlines Group would last not much longer than British Midland did when it was pulled into the fold (which is probably longer than EI would have lasted had FR gained ownership ... but again, that's all just my personal opinion).
If IAG does buy EI I think we can be confident that the EI will remain a separate airline.
The EI brand is well-known in Ireland and the UK, there would be no point getting rid of it, in fact it would be counter-productive. "BA-Ireland" doesn't cut it. What happens in the back office is quite another matter. It was easier to do with BD because it was another UK airline.