The new transatlantic joint
venture between American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia has started
talking to existing clients about merging their separate contracts with the
carriers, a BA spokesman told BTN on
Friday. The joint venture is prioritizing rationalization of these arrangements
before starting work on selling to new corporate customers. The spokesman also
confirmed that the three carriers would start integrating their frequent-flyer plans
next month and coordinate schedules starting with their summer 2011 programs.
The three airlines have been able
to start work on integration since obtaining regulatory approval for their joint venture in the United States on July 20. “We are already speaking to
corporates, asking them questions, and they are asking us questions, especially
those which have different accounts with us,” the spokesman said. “They may
have different policies to use different members of the joint venture on
transatlantic, European short-haul and U.S. domestic routes.”
The spokesman added that the
airlines also are working hard to align fare sub-classes so they can offer
consistent agreements to clients. “At the moment, what one letter means in a
United Kingdom contract could mean something different in a U.S. contract,” he
said.
In addition to the joint venture,
BA and Iberia are preparing to merge their organizations by year-end as
International Airlines Group, although both brands will be retained. Earlier
this week, BA chief executive Willie Walsh told reporters that IAG has prepared
a list of 12 potential acquisition targets to add to the group. Walsh did not
specify the targets, although he did tell the Australian Financial Review later in the week that a merger with
Qantas—which was pursued without success in 2008— would still make sense.