British Airways plc's ambitious attempt to pull off two major transactions and create the world's leading carrier ended Thursday, with news that short-lived talks with Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. had collapsed.
The development comes just two weeks after BA surprised investors -- and would-be merger partner Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España SA -- by announcing talks with the Australian airline.
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The CEOs of both Iberia and Qantas had later warned BA publicly that the U.K. group would have to choose between them. But BA continued to insist that both transactions were possible. A three-way merger would have created an entity larger than American Airlines Inc., the world's leading carrier by passenger numbers.
Other airline transactions are still up air: Ireland's Ryanair Holdings plc hostile, €525 million ($760 million) bid for the outstanding shares in domestic rival Aer Lingus Group plc and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd.'s attempt to buy an 80% stake in British Midland Airways Ltd. from Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Both Lufthansa and Air France-KLM are also in talks about investing in Alitalia. - Laura Board
