In addition to transporting passengers and freight, Iberia Group carries out related activities, such as aircraft maintenance, handling in airports, IT systems and in-flight catering.

[7] On 8 April 2010, it was confirmed that British Airways and Iberia had signed an agreement to merge,[8] making the combined operation the third largest commercial airline in the world by revenue.

[11] Iberia, Compañía Aérea de Transportes, was incorporated on 28 June 1927 with a capital investment of 1.1 million pesetas by financier Horacio Echevarrieta and Deutsche Luft Hansa.

During Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, Spanish aviation companies were amalgamated and became state-controlled as a general interest public utility, starting early 1928.

[13] Consequently, Iberia was merged into CLASSA (Compañía de Líneas Aéreas Subvencionadas S.A.), ceasing independent operations on 29 May 1929.

The policy of the company was to separate itself from the German orbit to which it had been linked in its first years and establish relations with the United States in terms of aircraft purchase and supplies of aeronautical material for the operation.

[22] This was achieved in 1946, Iberia was the first airline to fly between Europe and South America after World War II, using a Douglas DC-4 to operate flights between Madrid and Buenos Aires.

[26][27] The amendments to Article 6 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation of 14 June 1954 made in Paris on 30 June 1956 about non-scheduled air services enabled mass tourism using chartered aircraft since allowing European member states to carry out this type of operation with international flights between their territories.

[21] In 1961, Iberia had 9 Super Constellation in the fleet, that year came into service the first DC-8-50, the four-engined jet airliner was progressively incorporated until reaching the number of 8 aircraft of the 50 series variant.

[31] Iberia was gradually incorporating jets of short and middle range, such as Sud Aviation Caravelle, and Douglas DC-9.

[36] In June 1990, the carrier bought 16 Boeing 757s for US$1 billion, including spares and training; twelve more aircraft of the type were taken on option as a part of the deal.

In 1994, the poor results of Aerolineas Argentinas, which presented a positive balance in its commercial exploitation but hid a significant deficit with losses in non-operating activities, led Iberia to increase its ownership participation to 85%.

[41] With this increase in participation, the Argentine state renounced its "golden share", allowing Iberia to have full fiscal control of the company.

[42] This, together with the aforementioned sales, generated a big controversy, giving rise to criticism of the Argentine government for the privatization of the company.

[38] Iberia carried out major reforms in the structure of the company, which by that date was outdated with, among other things, extortionate personnel costs.

[44] In 2008, the president of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner expropriated the company from Grupo Marsans for the symbolic price of 1 Argentine peso ($0.57) and renationalized the airline.

[45] In July 2017 the ICSID ordered Argentina to pay 320 million dollars to Grupo Marsans for having paid a lower price than the real value of the company.

In 1997 the board of directors of Viasa, in which Iberia was the majority, decided to suspend the flights of the company, arguing that the situation was unfeasible.

[48] Iberia announcing that the company was not going to continue providing more capital into Viasa if its local partner, the Venezuelan state-owned group FIV, was not going to do the same.

Iberia offered to write off the 150 million dollar debt that Viasa had accumulated to the Spanish carrier in exchange for keeping its fleet of four DC-10s and five Boeing 727s.

Initially, Iberia had the intention of achieving the merger of Ladeco with Lan Chile, but Chilean antitrust laws prevented it.

[56] In July 2004, Iberia announced it had decided to move its Latin American hub from Miami, Florida to San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

[59] In November 2012, Iberia announced plans to reduce the number of employees by 4,500 and its fleet by five long-haul and 20 short-haul aircraft.

[61] In 2013, the headquarters of both airlines were moved to a new office in Ciudad Lineal, Madrid, and the corporate images have been changed as part of the renewal process.

[64] The key trends for Iberia are (as of the financial year ending 31 December):[65] The company head office is in the MV49 Business Park in Madrid.

[86] British Airways raised its stake in Iberia by purchasing American Airlines' remaining shares, reportedly paying £13m for the small shareholding.

[97] Iberia has a 9.49% stake in low-cost carrier Vueling which is based near Barcelona, with parent company IAG owning the remaining 90.51%.

[105] Iberia is a supplier of aircraft handling services at all Spanish airports and two in Equatorial Guinea; its airline clients number more than 200 and has 7300 employees.

Business Class tickets also include improved ground service (priority check-in, security, boarding, baggage handling, and lounge access).

[131] Iberia has moved more to an American, or "a-la-carte" model for domestic and European flights, offering a buy on board service called "Tu Menú" in economy for meals, snacks and beverages.