International Airlines Group shares starts trading
24-Jan-2011 Shares in International Airlines Group (IAG), the new holding company of British Airways and Iberia, started trading on the London Stock Exchange and the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia Stock Exchanges this morning.
IAG's chairman Antonio Vázquez and chief executive Willie Walsh were at the London Stock Exchange, along with Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, to see trading commence.
Antonio Vázquez said: "Today a major new player in international aviation has been born and British Airways and Iberia have achieved their ambition of playing a full role in industry consolidation. IAG is the third largest scheduled airline group in Europe and the sixth largest in the world, based on revenue. Together, Iberia and British Airways fly to over 200 destinations on more than 400 aircraft. They have joint revenues of more than €14 billion euros and last year carried 55 million passengers".
Willie Walsh said: "IAG has a great future ahead of it. The first two airlines in the group, British Airways and Iberia, will retain their strong brands and have complementary networks that operate from two of the biggest hubs in Europe. The merger will lead to annual synergies of €400 million from year five and benefit IAG shareholders and British Airways' and Iberia's customers and staff.
"British Airways and Iberia are the first two airlines in IAG but they won't be the last. Our goal is for more airlines - but, importantly, the right airlines - to join the group. Today is the first step towards creating a multinational multi-brand airline group".