The IAG acquisition of Aer Lingus gets final EU clearance – with some conditions

The acquisition of Aer Lingus by IAG, the parent company of British Airways, is now certain to go ahead following the approval of the deal by the European Union.  This follows the announcement last week that Ryanair had agreed to sell its 29% shareholding.

The EU did not roll over entirely, however.

It has imposed the following conditions on the transactions:

British Airways must give up five slots at Gatwick (yes Gatwick, not Heathrow) which will be ring-fenced for any airline wishing to start London-Dublin or London-Belfast services.  Ryanair has already expressed interest.

Aer Lingus must continue to sell seats to other airlines wishing to use its flights to connect to long-haul services from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Amsterdam, Shannon and Dublin.  This means, for example, that Aer Lingus cannot refuse to work with Virgin Atlantic to allow Virgin to sell Dublin – Heathrow – Detroit as one ticket.

The full EU press release is here.

IAG has already made its own concessions – to retain the Aer Lingus brand (binding), to retain the core schedule for seven years (binding) and to launch four new long-haul routes (not binding).

Going forward, we can expect – and these are my guesses only – good news and bad news:

Good news:

tier points and full Avios points (as opposed to the current reduced number of Avios points) available on Aer Lingus flights

Aer Lingus redemptions to be available online via ba.com

Gold Circle points to be turned into Avios

ability to effectively earn Avios points on United flights in the US by crediting them to Gold Circle and waiting for the conversion to Avios

Aer Lingus to join oneworld

Bad news:

fuel surcharges to be added to Aer Lingus redemption flights to the US as soon as permission is received for the airline to enter the Iberia / Finnair / BA / AA pricing cartel on transatlantic flights

Aer Lingus redemption seats become harder to find – at present, because you need to ring to book them, few people know they exist

competition from members of other oneworld frequent flyer programmes for Aer Lingus redemption seats

None of this will happen immediately as the deal will take a couple of months to reach legal completion.  

Whatever happens, Aer Lingus flights from Dublin to Boston will still be the cheapest way of flying to the US on Avios points.  It remains under 3,000 miles and therefore in the cheaper pricing band.

---

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.