Michael O’Leary has suggested EasyJet – one of Ryanair’s chief rivals – could be bought by either British Airways or Air France, or possibly both as a joint venture, as part of a fresh wave of post-Covid airline consolidation.
The Ryanair group chief executive was quoted as saying that the pandemic crisis of the past few years has brought more consolidation to the aviation sector and that EasyJet is “going to finish up being bought by either British Airways of Air France, or both jointly.”
Such a move could result in EasyJet becoming a sister airline to Aer Lingus. British Airways – along with Aer Lingus and Spanish carriers Iberia and Vueling – is owned by IAG, which has also been linked to a potential takeover of Portugal’s national airline TAP.
Rumours of a potential takeover move by IAG for certain rivals surfaced last weekend when group chief executive Luis Gallego said IAG sees “opportunities to be stronger”.
“We are a platform for consolidation…We are a group that wants to consolidate the industry,” Mr Gallego told a conference.
Earlier this week, Irish-founded, but Chinese-owned, aircraft leasing company Avolon said airline passenger volumes should return to normal pre-pandemic levels by June of this year; with the already improving numbers being bolstered by China recently reopening its borders and doing away with Covid restrictions around travel.
But, Avolon also said that it expects airline consolidation to accelerate and the pattern of takeovers of existing carriers to become more commonplace than airline startups this year.
