Bullet point 5 and stakeholders again

Competitors and customers are both stakeholders, and can both be significantly impacted by a takeover or merger. Sir Richard Branson can always be relied upon to have a comment to make about anything that British Airways do, and he doesn’t let us down here as Virgin Atlantic have lodged a formal complaint on the proposed merger between IAG (owners of BA) and BMI to the European Commission.

Virgin has said passengers would be left with a “choice of one” on flights between Aberdeen and Edinburgh and Heathrow. There is some great data in this article about the complaint from both sides, about Virgin’s claims of reduction in services and increase in prices for passengers which are likely to result from the merger, and BA’s counter-claims about increases in viability of services between Heathrow and Scotland. There is clear reference here to bullet point 6 - the reasons why governments might support or intervene in takeovers and mergers - as well as Sir Richard calls on “regulatory authorities, in the UK as well as in Europe, give this merger the fullest possible scrutiny and ensure it is stopped.” Definitely one to add to the BUSS4 resources!