Half of Spanish internal flights at stake in hard Brexit

A no-deal Brexit risks grounding half of Spain’s domestic passengers and a quarter of the total if British Airways parent IAG can’t show that its Iberia and Vueling arms are owned by EU investors. One of the licensing conditions for operations by EU carriers is that they be controlled by nationals of member states, or the states themselves, something London-based IAG has said it complies with via its own Spanish registration and the vesting of Iberia and Vueling voting rights in local holding companies. The EU has said IAG needs to verify that the structure is compliant with requirements before Britain quits the bloc on March 29 or risk seeing its right to operate some services terminated. With the group itself headquartered at Heathrow airport and 21% owned by Qatar Airways with extensive UK and US shareholdings, that may not be straightforward. IAG reiterated Wednesday that it remains confident that it “will comply with the EU and the UK ownership-and-control rules post-Brexit,” following extensive engagement with all relevant regulators and governments. <br/>