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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology BA-Iberia deal aims giant blow at rivals AFP - Saturday, November 14 Send IM Story Print Planes of Spain's national carrier Iberia at Barajas airport in Madrid. British Airways is aiming to hold its ranking as a giant in the skies through a tie-up with Spanish carrier Iberia that will give it access to South American routes, the group's boss said on Friday. LONDON (AFP) - – British Airways is aiming to hold its ranking as a giant in the skies through a tie-up with Spanish carrier Iberia that will give it access to South American routes, the group's boss said on Friday. The tie-up is being seen as a move to avoid being sidelined by rivals Air France-KLM and Lufthansa as the economic crisis and the rise of low-cost airlines drives airline alliances and steep cost cutting. However, BA chief executive Willie Walsh also admitted that there would be more job cuts as a result of the proposed marriage, sparking concern among trade unions in Britain and Spain. The deal, creating Europe's second-biggest airline by market capitalisation after Lufthansa, will combine Iberia's strong presence in Latin America with BA's solid position in North America, Asia-Pacific and Africa. The pair agreed late Thursday on a four-billion-pound (4.5-billion-euro, 6.6-billion-dollar) merger to form one of the world's biggest airlines. Walsh said his loss-making company did not want to be "left behind" after a series of critical industry alliances, citing the 2003 creation of Air France-KLM and a series of European acquisitions by Germany's Lufthansa. "This will create a much stronger entity. The concern has been that BA was being left behind as other airlines were starting to consolidate around us," Walsh told BBC Radio 4. The sector has buckled under the global economic downturn, which has slashed demand for air travel and persuaded many cash-strapped travellers to fly with cheaper low-cost carriers like easyJet and Ryanair. British Airways would be the dominant partner, holding 55 percent of the new company, while Iberia will hold 45 percent. "I'm not going to deny that there will be some job cuts," Walsh told Sky News in a separate interview. "It is clear, that when you put two companies together in a group structure like this, you can make savings in back office activities," added Walsh, who will also become chief executive of the new company. "I have always sought to improve BA's efficiency and there will be job losses because of that, but this is about securing the jobs of thousands of people." In a sign of the dramatic downturn, Spanish national carrier Iberia announced Friday that it suffered third-quarter losses of 16.4 million euros (24.4 million dollars). "This is about taking the best out of both and creating a new group of airlines that can compete on a truly global scale," Walsh told the BBC. "I think that it is very important that British Airways is part of a development like that." However, rival British airline Virgin Atlantic slammed the deal and said it gave BA-Iberia too much power at London's Heathrow Airport. And Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair argued that uncompetitively high fares were forcing BA and Iberia together. Unite, Britain's biggest trade union, said it has requested an urgent meeting with Walsh, adding it would not back the merger unless compulsory redundancies were avoided. Spanish trade union CCOO added it also wanted to guarantee job security for Iberia's staff. The merger news sent BA shares soaring in morning trade, but they later stood 0.42 percent down at 214.1 pence in afternoon deals. Iberia dipped nearly four percent in Madrid. The pair aim to complete the merger by the end of the year but it needs European regulatory approval. Both airlines will retain their brands, while the new group will be based in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange. Iberia chairman Antonio Vazquez will also be chairman of the combined company. BA-Iberia will have 419 aircraft and fly to 205 destinations, carrying approximately 60 million passengers per year. Last week, BA had revealed that net losses quadrupled to 217 million pounds in the group's first half, or six months to September. BA also said it would axe an extra 1,200 jobs, taking the group's total planned reduction to 4,900 by 2010. The two groups had announced in July 2008 that they were in talks for an all-share merger. But discussions had stalled on differences over the balance of control and the size of BA's pension-fund deficit. Iberia has reserved the right to back out of the merger deal if the BA pension deficit -- which amounts to around 2.6 billion pounds -- is not resolved. Meanwhile, BA, American Airlines and Iberia had signed an agreement last year to cooperate on flights between North America and Europe to help them to overcome soaring fuel costs and falling demand. 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