s.a. type sociedad an nima traded as bmad iag lse iag founded 21 january 2011 1 founder iberia l.a.e. and british airways headquarters madrid spain registered office london england uk operational headquarters area served worldwide key people antonio v zquez romero chairman willie walsh ceo services passenger air transport services air freight services revenue 20 350 million 2015 2 operating income 2 335 million 2015 2 profit 1 516 million 2015 2 number of employees 60 862 2015 2 subsidiaries aer lingus british airways iag cargo iberia vueling website www.iairgroup.com international consolidated airlines group s.a. often shortened to iag is a british spanish multinational airline holding company with its operational headquarters in london england united kingdom and registered in madrid spain . it was formed in january 2011 by the merger of british airways and iberia the flag carrier airlines of the united kingdom and spain respectively with british airways holding 55 % of the newly formed company . 3 4 5 it is the sixth largest airline company in the world and third largest based in europe measured by 2010 revenues . 6 the company is listed on the london stock exchange and the madrid stock exchange . it is a constituent of the ftse 100 index and ibex 35 index . contents 1 history 2 corporate affairs 2.1 overview 2.2 divisions subsidiaries and franchises 2.3 minority shareholders 2.4 financial results 3 operations 4 loyalty programme 5 references 6 external links history edit see also history of british airways and history of iberia airlines iberia and british airways aircraft tails british airways and iberia signed a preliminary merger agreement in november 2009 . 7 8 9 in april 2010 british airways and iberia signed a full merger agreement with an intended completion date of late 2010 subject to securing the necessary regulatory approvals . 10 11 the merger between british airways and iberia was completed on 21 january 2011 and shares in the new holding company iag and began trading in london and madrid on 24 january . 12 13 14 in march 2011 iag agreed to purchase eight airbus a330 300 aircraft and to take options on eight more to be used for iberia s longhaul fleet . 15 on 6 october 2011 iag created iberia express a new low cost airline to operate short and medium haul routes from iag s madrid hub and provide transfer feed onto iberia s longhaul network . 16 17 iberia express began operations on 25 march 2012 . 18 19 on 4 november 2011 iag agreed in principle to acquire british midland international bmi from lufthansa for an undisclosed sum in a deal which would increase iag s share of slots at heathrow airport from 45 % to 54 % . 20 21 on 22 december 2011 iag agreed a binding deal with lufthansa to acquire bmi for 172.5 million . 22 on 30 march 2012 the purchase of bmi was approved subject to the condition that the combined group divest itself of 12 daily slots and lease two daily slots at heathrow airport . the acquisition was completed on 20 april 2012 and the bmi fleet and routes were integrated into the british airways schedule throughout 2012 . 23 on 8 november 2012 international consolidated airlines group iag made a cash tender offer to buy vueling the spanish low cost airline based in barcelona . the offer was 7 per ordinary share of vueling with the total cost of acquiring the shares anticipated to be 113m . it was funded from internal iag resources . the reported total assets of vueling as of 30 september 2012 were 805m and in the nine months to 30 september 2012 it generated profits before tax of 59m . an increased offer of 9.25 was accepted by the vueling board on 9 april 2013 and received majority shareholder approval on 23 april 2013 . iag took control of vueling on 26 april 2013 . 24 25 in december 2012 iag completed the merger of the cargo operations of british airways bmi and iberia into a single business unit iag cargo . 26 27 in april 2013 iag confirmed the conversion of options to acquire 18 boeing 787 dreamliners into firm orders in a deal worth around us 4.5 billion . 28 29 the aircraft are planned to replace some of british airway s fleet of boeing 747s between 2017 and 2021 . 28 on 16 october 2013 iberia unveiled a new livery used from the end of november 2013 . 30 at the farnborough airshow 2014 iag converted the options for 20 airbus a320neo aircraft into firm orders which are currently intended to replace 21 shorthaul british airways aircraft . 31 in january 2015 iag made an bid of 1 billion for aer lingus . this was expected to be accepted after the rejection of two prior bids . 32 in may 2015 the irish government agreed to sell its stake in aer lingus to iag 33 as did the aer lingus board in late january 2015 . 34 the takeover became irreversible on the 18 august 2015 . 35 on 1 march 2015 stephen kavanagh was appointed chief executive officer of aer lingus and executive director of the aer lingus board . in october 2015 rachel izzard was appointed chief financial officer of aer lingus and also appointed to the aer lingus board of directors prior to joining aer lingus rachel izzard was chief financial officer at iag cargo . 36 in november 2015 alex cruz was named executive chairman of british airways . steve gunning was appointed chief financial officer of british airways . 37 in april 2016 it was announced that qatar airways increased its shareholding of iag from 9.99 % to close to 12 % . 38 in may 2016 qatar airways increased its shareholding to 15.01 % . 39 corporate affairs edit overview edit iag s operational headquarters which controls the management of both its british and spanish subsidiaries are at waterside in harmondsworth london borough of hillingdon ; 40 previously they were at 2 world business centre on the property of london heathrow airport in the borough of hillingdon . 41 42 and incorporated in spain as a sociedad an nima where the company board meetings are held domiciling in spain for tax purposes . 43 44 45 46 iag has a primary listing on the london stock exchange and has been a ftse 100 constituent since 24 january 2011 . 47 48 it has secondary listings on the madrid barcelona bilbao and valencia stock exchanges 49 50 and has been a constituent of the ibex 35 index since 1 april 2011 . 51 divisions subsidiaries and franchises edit aer lingus airbus a330 200 british airways boeing 787 8 iberia airbus a321 200 vueling airbus a320 200 the structure of the main operating companies is aer lingus 98.05 % stake 52 aer lingus regional franchise british airways 100 % owned ba cityflyer 100 % owned openskies 100 % owned comair 18 % stake sun air franchise iag cargo 100 % owned merger between iberia cargo and british airways world cargo iberia l neas a reas de espa a s.a. group 100 % owned iberia 100 % owned air nostrum franchise trading as iberia regional iberia express 100 % owned vueling airlines s.a. 97.52 % stake 53 minority shareholders edit shareholder holding 54 qatar airways 55 20.010 % standard life investments ltd 6.008 % europacific growth fund 5.261 % capital research and management company 5.049 % blackrock 3.072 % legal and general group plc 3.236 % lansdowne partners international limited 2.561 % invesco ltd 1.082 % lansdowne developed markets master fund ltd 0.491 % financial results edit year ended passengers flown turnover m profit loss before tax m net profit loss m basic eps cents 31 december 2011 51 687 000 16 339 527 485 31.1 31 december 2012 54 600 000 18 117 997 923 51.0 31 december 2013 67 224 000 18 675 227 147 6.6 31 december 2014 77 334 000 20 170 828 1 003 48.2 31 december 2015 88 333 000 20 350 1 801 1 516 73.5 by 2012 it was reported that british airways profits had been wiped out by iberia losses placing the spanish airline in a fight for its survival . iag workers in madrid reported they believed iberia to be the junior partner in iag citing deep concern for the airline . 56 by 2013 iberia had lost a billion euros leaving iag chief executive willie walsh to defend the british airways iberia merger . 57 in may of the same year iberia had suffered further losses and iag s balance sheet was now in deep deficit as iberia fought low cost competition and a deep recession . willie walsh admitted that perhaps british airways should have postponed the iag merger saying if i d known the spanish economy was going to deteriorate to the scale that it did we may have delayed the decision but ultimately i believe the merger is the right thing . 58 operations edit iberia british airways aer lingus and vueling operate under their separate brand names . 59 as of 17 january 2014 update iag had a total of 464 aircraft with 150 aircraft on order and in excess of 110 options . the most popular type operated is the airbus a320 series with a combined fleet of 226 aircraft . 60 for details of the current aircraft operated by the group see the fleet details for each of the main operating subsidiaries iberia british airways aer lingus and vueling . the entire company serves around 200 destinations . 59 60 for a list of destinations refer to the respective lists of destinations of different iag subsidiaries . loyalty programme edit iag operates the avios loyalty programme which was known as air miles until 16 november 2011 . 61 avios points are the frequent flyer currency of iberia british airways and flybe and can also be used for travel within the oneworld alliance . a restructure in 2015 meant that all of iag s affiliated loyalty programmes which use avios including avios travel reward programme iberia plus and british airways executive club came into ownership of avios group ltd. 62 references edit iag profile . international airlines group . retrieved 1 august 2011 . a b c d iag full year results 2015 pdf . international consolidated airlines group . retrieved 25 march 2016 . hollinger penny 12 january 2015 . iag s successes at iberia should give heart to dublin . the times . retrieved 29 july 2016 . international airlines group formed as ba signs merger with iberia . ibtimes . 8 april 2010 . retrieved 11 april 2010 . vamburkar meenal 8 april 2010 . british airways and iberia agree on merger . new statesman . uk . retrieved 11 april 2010 . world airline rankings regional picture . flight global . 22 july 2011 . retrieved 31 july 2011 . british airways iberia agree to 4 billion merger . reuters . 12 november 2009 . retrieved 7 november 2011 . osborne alistair 13 november 2009 . ba iberia 4.4 bn merger creates europe s third largest airline . london the telegraph . retrieved 7 november 2011 . ba and iberia agree merger deal . bbc news . 12 november 2009 . retrieved 7 november 2011 . plummer robert 8 april 2010 . ba s iberia tie up nears lift off . bbc news . retrieved 7 november 2011 . osborne alistair 9 april 2010 . ba and iberia sign 5.8 bn merger deal . london the telegraph . retrieved 7 november 2011 . ba iberia overtakes air france by value as iag debuts . bloomberg businessweek . 24 january 2011 . retrieved 7 november 2011 . deals and strikes loom for iag after ba iberia merger . reuters . 24 january 2011 . retrieved 7 november 2011 . british