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Brussels has warned BA owner IAG that its favoured strategy to allow it to continue flying freely in and around Europe in the event of a no-deal Brexit will not work, the FT reported Tuesday. After Brexit, European carriers will have to show they are more than 50 per cent EU-owned and controlled to retain flying rights in the bloc, the FT said. IAG, which also owns the Spanish flag carrier Iberia, is registered in Spain but headquartered in the United Kingdom and has diverse global shareholders. The FT said part of IAG’s strategy to retain both EU and UK operating rights is to stress that its important individual airlines are domestically owned through a series of trusts and companies, rather than being part of the bigger group comprising a high proportion of non-EU investors. The FT quoted an unnamed senior EU official as saying, “For IAG, I can’t see how it can be a solution.”<br/>

BA has been accused of glamorising gambling after it ran a television commercial featuring a couple easily winning money on slot machines, triggering complaints to the advertising regulator and anger from MPs and campaigners. The advert, for BA Holidays, shows a couple returning to their room via what appears to be a hotel casino after a dip in the swimming pool. “We had a bit of spare change so we put it in the slot machines … and won a couple of dollars. So we put it back in and the next thing we knew we’d won $493. Luckiest dip ever,” they said. Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, said he had been “stunned” by the advert and would be discussing the matter urgently with cross-party colleagues. He said: “Utterly appalling. What were they thinking?” A cross-party parliamentary group of MPs, led by the Labour MP Carolyn Harris, is expected to write to BA to condemn it for “glamorising” gambling.<br/>