MADRID, July 28 (Reuters) - IAG, the parent of
British Airways and Spain's Iberia, is close an agreement to
halve the price of its planned 1 billion euro ($1.17 billion)
acquisition of Spanish rival Air Europa, newspaper Cinco Dias
reported on Tuesday.
Air Europa's price tag would be lowered to 500 million to
600 million euros, the newspaper said. The new terms of deal
could be announced this week, Cinco Dias added.
With the acquisition of Air Europa, IAG intends to increase
its routes to Latin America and the Caribbean. Since the deal
was announced in November, the airline industry has been
battling its biggest ever crisis due the impact from the
COVID-19 crisis..
Iberia and Globalia, owner of Air Europa, declined to
comment.
In June, the Chief Executive Officer IAG had told newspaper
El Pais that the company was reviewing its planned acquisition
of Air Europa.
($1 = 0.8524 euros)
(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; editing by Louise Heavens)