The merger of British Airways and Iberia will expand the networks of both airlines and enhance their revenue-raising opportunities.

BA is strong on routes to North America, the Middle East and Asia while Iberia is dominant on the South Atlantic to Latin America.

Merge the two networks and what will BA passengers get? An additional 59 destinations to choose from and Iberia passengers get 98. There are only 48 shared destinations and most of those are in Europe. For business-class passengers one of the big advantages of this larger network is that it creates more opportunities for accumulating air miles — and more destinations to spend them on. In addition, the larger route network should give passengers greater flexibility in flight times and frequency.

However, this is not a merger of equals when it comes to product quality. BA’s business class cabins are among the best in the world and win numerous awards, while Iberia’s are not regarded in such a positive light. Even though BA passengers may now have the opportunity to fly with Iberia to their destination of choice, they may choose not to bother. For example, if a businessman wants to go to Santiago, Chile, and his company has an account with BA, he will now have two options.

He can fly to Madrid and then go with Iberia direct to Santiago or he can go with BA on the existing flight to Rio de Janeiro and connect on to a LAN Chile flight to Santiago.

Tom Otley, editor in chief of Business Traveller magazine, said: “I personally would go with BA because you will get ten hours in a great business class and then to the last hop with a local carrier. BA’s business class is better than Iberia’s so the Madrid connection may only be popular, although it will offer passengers greater flexibility in terms of timing.”

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