MADRID, Sept 6 (Reuters) - British Airways and Iberia have a list of 12 potential airlines to buy or merge with when their tie-up is complete, BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh said in Mumbai on Sunday.
The two airlines, which plan to merge by the end of the year and call themselves International Airlines Group (IAG), would not, however, pursue all 12 targets, narrowed down from an original list of 40, Walsh said at a press conference.
"This is just to give us a focus. We have not had any discussions with any airlines. There is nothing going on at the moment," the BA CEO said.
Separately, The Financial Times on Monday cited Walsh as saying that some of the targets would be ready to merge with or buy almost immediately, though laws on foreign ownership would make it hard to buy some of the airlines on the list.
The list includes budget airlines and full carriers in emerging markets, but Walsh declined to name the groups it was interested in, the FT reported. (Reporting by Matthew Scuffham and Jonathan Gleave; Editing by Will Waterman)