Yes, in a dose of Brexit inspired madness, BA’s sister airline Iberia has made a surprising revelation: it is not actually a subsidiary of a major international aviation group.
It is, in fact, part of Spanish department store group El Corte Ingles. Which, admittedly, could explain a lot but came as a bit of a surprise none the less.
It turns out that the corporate equivalent of a recent DNA test has proved that Iberia and British Airways are not actually brother and sister. Iberia’s sister companies actually include:
…… a small chain of Spanish opticians. Whilst we thought Iberia was related to Aer Lingus, it actually spent Christmas with BriCor, which appears to be the Spanish version of B&Q (they are doing 20% off sheds at the moment).
If you think I’m making this up, take a read at El Pais here.
Why does Iberia claim to be a department store subsidiary?
Here’s the thing. Only airlines which have 50.1% EU ownership have ‘flying rights’ to operate between two airports within the EU.
Iberia is owned by BA’s parent, International Airlines Group. Whilst IAG is based in Madrid, it does NOT have 50.1% EU ownership if you look at the shareholder register. Qatar Airways, for example, has a 21% shareholding in IAG.
If the UK leaves the EU without an aviation treaty being agreed, as would happen in the event of a ‘no deal’ Brexit, Iberia could be grounded. Iberia has thought of this and actually put this bizarre structure in place back in 2011 when IAG was created, except that no-one took any notice at the time.
Whilst 100% of the ‘economic rights’ to Iberia’s revenue and profitability are owned by IAG, it turns out that 50.01% of Iberia’s ‘political rights’ are owned by the El Corte Ingles department store chain.
It is now up to the European Commission to decide if Iberia is actually:
owned by a multinational airline business with over 50.1% of its shareholders outside the ‘ex UK’ EU, in which case it could be grounded at the end of March, or
a sister company to a handful of department stores, an opticians and a DIY chain
You can find more at El Pais here.
(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for the latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios from current offers and promotions.)
About Head for Points
I’m due to fly back from Malta on the 4th April after disembarking from a cruise originating in the UAE. Hope they make me stay.
OT but Iberia related – has anyone seen/heard any data points regarding cancelling Iberia flights booked using the promo points? My wife and I have flights booked from MAD to MEX in February, but she is now pregnant and has been advised not to go due to the possible Zika risk.
I’m just a little concerned that if we cancel, we will lose our 180k promo points…
MEX itself is not in a Zika potential area: altitude too high.
Yes, I pointed that out to them, but they still insisted that it was a risk and the wife is extremely risk-averse, so she now doesn’t want to go at all.
Contact Iberia and explain the pregnancy. Apparently someone on the flyertalk Iberia forum was given their points back after a major change of flight times.
I will be flying back from India to London on 30th March, taking off a couple of hours after Brexit. I hold a EU passport – will be interesting to trial what happens at passport control in LHR.
Well it would be nice to have a separate lane for UK citizens like they have for US citizens entering the USA.
Why do you say that?
Ridiculous.
Oh indeed it’d be lovely. What would also be nice to have is a separate lane for EU citizens entering the EU, with British citizens stuck on the slow visa lane… Careful what you wish…