International Airlines Group (IAG)

British Airways was created in 1974 through the merger of BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) and BEA (British European Airways). The airline was privatised in 1987 under Margaret Thatcher's government — one of the signature privatisations of the Conservative era. Under CEO Colin Marshall and later Bob Ayling, British Airways became highly profitable and positioned itself as "The World's Favourite Airline." The Concorde supersonic service between London and New York — which operated from 1976 to 2003 — became the airline's most iconic product, charging premium prices for crossing the Atlantic in three and a half hours.

The September 11 attacks devastated British Airways, which had a particularly high exposure to transatlantic travel. The airline restructured multiple times across the 2000s, cutting costs, shedding employees, and seeking merger partners. The search for scale led to approaches to various European carriers before finally finding a willing partner in Iberia — Spain's flag carrier — with which British Airways had collaborated for years through the Oneworld alliance.

International Airlines Group was formed in January 2011 through the merger of British Airways and Iberia, creating the third-largest airline group in Europe and the fifth-largest in the world. IAG subsequently acquired Vueling — a Spanish low-cost carrier — in 2013, and Aer Lingus — the Irish national carrier — in 2015. The Aer Lingus acquisition was particularly valuable: it gave IAG access to Dublin's US pre-clearance facility and significant transatlantic traffic, while Aer Lingus's lower-cost structure complemented British Airways's premium positioning.

IAG refused government bailout funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, instead raising capital through equity from shareholders and arranging its own debt financing. The decision preserved IAG's independence but required painful restructuring: British Airways made around 12,000 redundancies in 2020 in one of the most contentious aviation labour disputes in UK history. The airline emerged from the pandemic leaner but with significant industrial relations damage.

IAG reported €38.4 billion in revenue for 2024 with operating profit of approximately €3.5 billion, its highest ever. The London Heathrow to New York JFK route remained the world's highest-revenue international route, generating approximately $1 billion annually. British Airways's Club Suite business class — introduced from 2019 with direct-aisle access doors — restored the product's competitiveness after a decade of underinvestment. IAG's market capitalisation of €25.3 billion reflected the group's recovery from COVID and its dominant position on the premium transatlantic market.