The British Airways and Iberia have prepared a shortlist of around 12 airlines which they hope to takeover or merge with after their own tie up deal has been completed.

The chief of BA, Willie Walsh did not unveil the particular names of the involved airlines. But he said they were targeting the carriers of the economically emerging countries like China and India. He said this statement while unveiling a code sharing deal with Kingfisher Airlines of India in Mumbai.

The BA chief wants to bring the airlines all together under the newly created combined airline International Airlines Group (IAG) which is formed by the Iberia and BA.

Initially there were 40 airlines in the shortlist but later it was filtered to 12 to give focus to the most suitable airlines. There has not been any discussion with any of the airlines yet.

Mr. Walsh said we wanted to bring the same minded airlines together so that they can work combined for better effect in the economic crisis. BA chief is interested in achieving full merger rather than having minority investment in other airlines.