British Airways has identified about a dozen potential merger targets as the BA and Iberia tie-up aims to consolidate the global aviation industry.
BA chief Willie Walsh wants to bring airlines together under the International Airlines Group (IAG) - the entity newly-created by the merger of British Airways and Iberia - which he will lead from the end of this year.
Both BA and Iberia have narrowed the list of potential targets from an initial pool of about 40, with a low-cost airline among the carriers attracting IAG eyes.
The Daily Telegraph named India's second-biggest carrier Kingfisher as a possible investment target for IAG, which BA chief Willie Walsh described as "clearly the best partner" in India. Walsh was been in Mumbai over the weekend to announce a code-share agreement with Kingfisher.
South American carriers LAN and TAM are also understood to be on the hit-list, the Daily Mail reports. Merger candidates are more than likely to be those in the current OneWorld alliance, which includes Australian flagship carrier Qantas.
"With Iberia, we have had a number of meetings where we have looked at airlines around the world and identified those that would be attractive to us in joining IAG," Walsh told Bloomberg.
"We want to create a platform for like-minded airlines - those who believe that consolidation is part of the answer for the industry - to be able to join us. We have not had any discussions with any airlines."
