Workers at Spanish airline Iberia have walked out in protest at job cuts enforced by owner International Consolidated Airlines (IAG). It's the first of three planned five-day strikes that could cost the carrier €100m (£86m). That, however, could be a small price to pay if chief executive Willie Walsh achieves ambitious targets.
He has promised to stem Iberia's cash losses by mid-2013 - it's currently leaking €1.7m a day - and he'll have to if IAG is to hit its target of €1.6bn operating profit by 2015. Scrapping Iberia's 13 worst routes, together losing €100m a year, would be a start. British Airways is less problematic and, given strength on its transatlantic routes, could make €1.3bn in three years. And US Airways' merger with IAG's joint venture partner, American Airlines (AA), could be worth €70m a year, says Liberum Capital.
