MADRID (Reuters) - IAG (L:ICAG), 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.