Richard Branson says BA-Iberia merger should be undone

5th Jul 2012 09:51

British business magnate and Virgin Group President Richard Branson continues to be highly critical of the Iberia and British Airways merger that led to the creation of International Airlines Group (IAG). In an interview with Spanish daily Cinco Dias, Branson said that the alliance is bad for employees, bad for Spain for allowing it to happen, and bad for competition."Competition is falling, which is not good for consumers. These two airlines had to be competing with each other and I believe it is unfortunate that the European Union allowed British Airways to get so big," Branson said.In fact, Branson has gone as far as advising the new Spanish government to study whether there was a way to undo the agreement with BA and make Iberia independent again. "There must be a way," he said.Branson's group owns the much smaller Virgin Airlines. When asked how the airline survives against large companies and new low-cost companies, Branson answered that it tries to stand out from the competition by investing in new airplanes, higher quality, and innovation. "The technology we employ in our space programme may allow us to transport passengers between countries much quicker but this type of development is still years away," said Branson.By 09:57 in London, shares of IAG were trading 0.34% lower at 158.66p.SC