Originally Posted by
rrgg
I don't think that's the case.
BA purchased additional IB ownership from AA's share. They did this to maintain a seat on the board (or something like that). I'm not sure BA had the opportunity to make a larger purchase (?????)
From memory, AA had less than 1% of IB and BA had 9-10%; so it was close to a token purchase. Spanish companies have been busy buying UK companies (BAA, Scottish Power), so maybe this is the British counter-attack. In any case while IB is trying to go LCC for some of its routes, there is no chance of IB leaving OW as it is trying to build long-haul premium services.