The £5bn Spanish merger

IT IS the UK’s flag carrier, and was once known as ‘the world’s favourite airline’.

But in 2010, British Airways joined forces with Spanish airline Iberia in a £5 billion merger to create IAG, Europe’s third largest scheduled airline.

British shareholders took 55 per cent of the business and the firm based its operational headquarters in London, although the parent company is officially registered in Madrid. Willie Walsh, who first went to BA as chief executive after turning around Aer Lingus, is chief executive of IAG and saw his salary rise from £735,000 to £825,000 following the merger.

With its roots in the pioneers of commercial flight soon after the First World War, British Airways came from a merger of British European Airways and BOAC in 197 .