BA Bags Lufthansa’s BMI, Heathrow Slots in $271 Million Deal

British Airways parent IAG sealed the purchase of Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s BMI unit with a 172.5 million-pound ($271 million) bid that edges out Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. and boosts its position at London Heathrow airport.

The deal brings as many as 56 daily slot pairs at capacity-limited Heathrow, Europe’s busiest hub, which will be used to add routes to emerging markets, London-based IAG, formed from a merger of BA and Iberia last January, said today in a statement.