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Flag carrier of Spain. Airline was founded by Horacio Echeberrieta and Deutsche Luft Hansa, which held a stake in the new airline until September 1944, when Iberia was nationalized. First route from Madrid to Barcelona was operated in December 1927 using ex-DLH Rohrbach Roland. A year later, Barcelona to Berlin flights were inaugurated, with stops in Marseille, Geneva, Zurich, Stuttgart, and Erfurt. However, this company was integrated into Lineas Aereas Subvencionadas S.A (CLASSA) - a state-owned company, in 1928.
Iberia was formed again in June 1940 from its predecessors, LAPE (Lineas Aereas Postales Espanolas, which itself was founded in 1935). It started operations like many others with Douglas DC-3s, which were augmented after the war with DC-4s. Airline, from its beginning, concentrated on serving Spanish Spanish-speaking world, namely western Saharan Africa, plus South and Central America. Buenos Aires and Montevideo have been served since 1946 and North America since 1954. In 1950s Convair CV-440s were used on European network and Douglas DC-4s on Iberia flights to the Americas and Africa. In July 1961 the first jet joined the fleet, a Douglas DC-8 which was put on Madrid - New York route July 2nd, 1961. A year later the Sud Caravelle arrived and was used on Iberia's European network.
The first wide-body aircraft, a Boeing 747, arrived in 1970. In 1974 Iberia introduced Europe's first air shuttle service between Madrid and Barcelona. Iberia introduced Boeing 727s and Douglas DC-9s on its domestic and European network and Douglas DC-10s and Boeing 747s were used for long-haul work throughout 1970s and 1980s.
In 1990s fleet modernization took place when DC-9s and Boeing 727s were replaced with MD-87s, Airbus A320s and A319s. Long haul fleet was replaced with Airbus A340s. In 2001 airline was privatized. Iberia is since 1999 member of Oneworld airline alliance. Iberia also provides maintenance for other airlines has 28,000 employees and carries around 30 million passengers annually.
In January 2011 British Airways and Iberia merged to form International Consolidated Airlines Group, S.A. (IAG) which is the sixth-largest airline company in the world (and third-largest based in Europe) measured by 2010 revenues. The company is based in London with its registered office in Madrid. Vueling is also part of IAG and all 3 airlines operate under their separate brand names.
