EC anti-trust authorities may be prepared to sanction the take over of Aer Lingus by low cost rival Ryanair.
While the European Commission's anti-competition authorities have so far kept quiet on the shock bid for the Irish flagship carrier by Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's ceo, analysts in Brussels think they might allow it to go through.
One analyst, Christoph Klenner from Prisma Consulting Group told BTE: "The Commission is quite secretive about the whole thing and they don't want to comment at this point.
"But extrapolating from its behaviour in the past, I believe that it would in principle allow a takeover of Aer Lingus by Ryanair given that a number of conditions are met."
He said the Commission would look at the 17 routes where, if merged, the two carriers would have a joint operation.
"If a combined Ryanair-Aer Lingus has a monopoly on a certain route, it must provide the Commission with guarantees that it will facilitate entry for new competitors on that route (e.g. in terms of slots or availability of gates), and that it won't hinder competition," Mr Klenner said.
If there was a monopoly on any of these routes the EC would be concerned.
But Mr Klenner added: "One must keep in mind in this regard that prior to Ryanair's explosive growth Aer Lingus was a quasi-monopolist on most of its routes ex-Dublin, as Ireland was principally an origin and not so much a destination market."
He also pointed out that the EC wanted to see consolidation in the European aviation industry which might also play into Mr O'Leary's hand.
He added that he did not believe the EC would be "opposed to a deal that much."
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