(FT) -- Willie Walsh, British Airways's chief, and top Iberia executives have drawn up a list of 12 candidates to buy or merge with once their own tie-up is finalised in a plan that would create the world's largest airline and shake-up the aviation world.
The 12 targets, pared back from an initial list of 40, includes budget airlines as well as larger full-service carriers in several countries, including fast-growing emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China.
Not all 12 would be pursued, and foreign ownership restrictions in many countries would make it hard to buy some of those targeted. But "others would be possible almost immediately", said Mr Walsh, who is set to move shortly to head a new company under the BA-Iberia merger called International Airlines Group, or IAG.
He will drive the combined group's strategic direction, assuming the deal is completed by the end of this year as planned, and has already made clear that the new group would look at further consolidation.
But this is the first time he has revealed that detailed discussions have been going on within BA and Iberia in recent months regarding the scope and nature of possible deals.
CNN
