Walsh admits Qantas talks still on his radar

British Airways would be keen on reopening merger talks with Qantas Airways if Australia's top carrier was interested in reviving a deal that collapsed in 2008, according to BA's chief executive.

"We have done the work in our discussions with them (Qantas] two years ago and we know there is a strong case there," Willie Walsh said, in an interview in Australia.

"It is definitely something that would be interesting in the future if Qantas were like-minded."

Walsh's comments came just days after BA and Iberia said they had identified 12 possible acquisition targets to chase once their own merger completes, targeting Asia for expansion.

Davy Stockbrokers analyst Stephen Furlong said: "I would be surprised if Qantas was not one of the 12 because the two together could generate big synergies and Asia is where the growth is.

"But Qantas are doing their own restructuring at the moment so I would not read into Walsh's comments too much but anything that would happen would be longer-term."

Walsh said he did not expect Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce to be keen on pursuing a merger at the moment but added "that may change".

BA and Qantas, then under chief executive Geoff Dixon, held merger talks in 2008, but Qantas called off discussions over a disagreement on the airlines' relative valuations.