Could this be a play for some of NAL's aircraft orders. According to SAS latest 50ac purchasing announcement they struggled to get early deliveries since both Boeing and Airbus order books are pretty full. BA could need some quick respecced deliveries of 787's to compete with Qantas UK-Australia direct = before 2020. Plus some 737 long range orders woudn't go amiss for additional trans-atlantic point to point routes.
And with the high % short selling of Norwegian stock, BA where hardly going to loose on their investment combined with a takeover threat.

Don't you just hate democracy and freedom of speech.

I have posted elsewhere
.

Am also mulling Laker. The legacies would want to protect the lucrative North Atlantic. The 787s would be mighty useful for replacing all those ageing 747s and 777s.

The elephant in the room may well be competition authorities. BA, either direct or through one of their joint ventures, sit very heavily on the transatlantic market out of the UK. Having the authorities approve a take-over of Norwegian, supposedly including it's long-haul arm, is unlikely to take place without relinquishing other agreements.

I suppose it's exactly to get rid of the transatlantic, and growing Asia/South-America, competition out of Gatwick, that IAG are showing an interest in taking over Norwegian.

The matter is further complicated by the UK leaving the EU, and whilst Norway is not a member, it does abide by all the rules and subjects to the ECJ, in order to gain free access to the market.

Those contemplating the Norwegian aircraft being part of a deal, should remind themselves that the long-haul fleet, and the vast majority of the short-haul ditto, are leased.

But the orders are not, and they can be adjusted to suit BA or another IAG company.
The best of the leases can be taken in as already financed ac's, probably with part of it even advantageous US export financing.

WHBM the deal by which BA bought BCAL was not £1.00!!!

It was £237 million pounds as reported at the time. It was this high thanks to Scandinavian - SAS making a good offer for the airline and forcing BA to offer more than their initial offer.

The £1.00 deal was reportedly for Dan-Air

most / all the 787s are on the Irish AOC ?

The competition authorities won't give a damn. They will of course instigate a review and then it will be pointed out to them that if they don't let the deal through then there will be thousands of job losses after Norwegian goes bust. IAG will then sit back and see who blinks first. If the deal is blocked they lose some cash as the shares plummet, investor confidence wanes and Norwegian go boom. Then they lose a competitor and get the cash back eventually. Or if they succeed then they get rid of a competitor and no doubt have plans for turning it around and fitting it within the IAG group and improving yields eg: Cargo, interlining etc.

No, NAI (the Irish AOC) does not have 787s. All 787s are on the NUK or NAI AOCs.

BA can sell its shares ,make and profit and make NAS look a basket case for future investors.

Bit of a dilemma for competition authorities. To the Mandarins in Brussels they are looking at effects on the EU market. Not at all interested in the EFTA or third countries. While the U.K. is not yet one of these, they would be by the time any investigation is concluded.

OTOH the British authorities are charged with reviewing the activities of British companies, something IAG is not.

Well, perhaps the Norwegians will look at it.

will certainly be called in by the UK authorities

Popular press already reminding people of BA's predatory removal of competition over the last 60 years..................

OK then, they can let Norwegian go bust. Booked passengers will lose their money, staff will lose their jobs.

Well done officials.

From the Daily Telegraph :

What unthinking editor at the Telegraph thinks that because aircraft are new they are comfortable ? 9-across in a 787 long-haul !!!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/c...ways-takeover/

The Telegraph's constant slating of BA and praise for Norwegian has been really infuriating past few months. As if they have an agenda/monetary interest in Norwegian. Think that article you quoted failed to talk properly about the vast amount of debt Norwegian find themselves in. And yes 9 abrest 787 - done that once and hopefully never again!

And to the floor - if an acquisition occurs- good/bad/inconsequential for current BA pilots?

I think you're forgetting IAG is a Spanish company. As such Ms. Vestager would be highly interested in any merger/take-over of Norwegian by IAG. The market likely to be most affected, however, would be transatlantic out of the UK. But let's not forget Norwegian also have a significant presence in Scandinavia and Spain, both long- and short-haul. I therefore think it unwise to dismiss the EU in all of this; they would be highly interested in ensuring competition is not further eroded.

"OK then, they can let Norwegian go bust. Booked passengers will lose their money, staff will lose their jobs. Well done officials."

They are concerned with COMPETITION - they can/will make IAG divest itself of slots, routes, aircraft. The aim is to avoid monopolies

It is no co-incidence that air fares across the Atlantic are (relatively) high - 80% of flights offered are from one of the "Alliances"

There is very little direct competition and hence chance of a monopoly occuring should IAG offer and succeed in gaining a controlling interest in Norwegian. Norwegian does bucket and spade routes which are ten a penny with airlines competing for business. Their longhaul operations whilst including some main hubs also have a fair amount of secondary airports. Anyway this would have all been ticked off the boxes by Willys advisors well ahead of the share purchase. Thats what you pay the big bucks for.

You can't get pre-clearance before a bid - you have to take the risk. No doubt the Advi$ors will have done their best but at the end of the day it's politics - so expect France, Germany, Netherlands and Italy to wade in -if nothing else to run up IAG's legal bill and trap them in the regulatory swamp for a year or two

The money raised from the recent share offer was from core investors who are long term the second tranch to be approved on the 13th (today) is for investors not included in tranch 1 to ensure that they are treat equally.

This placing was to provide a buffer to ensure that norwegian did not breech its banking covenants.

2018 is front loaded in terms of delivery of new aircraft especially the 789, 2018 will like be a loss, but the underlying performance will be the key going forward.

In the meantime IAG have generated huge free publicity for Norwegian that is not negative.

Let’s see how this pans out

Provocative mistake ?
 

Putting that big picture of Freddie Laker in the tail of one of the aircraft was bound to provoke a reaction.