Qatar Airways buys stake in IAG

Qatar Airways (QA) has acquired a 9.99% stake in International Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of British Airways (BA) and Spanish flag carrier Iberia, QA said on 30 January. The deal, worth about $1.7bn, represents a push westward for the Qatari airline, which is now the largest shareholder of IAG. In a statement, QA said that it “may consider increasing its stake further over time”, although it had no plans to do so at the moment. Non-European Union (EU) shareholders are only allowed to own up to 49% of EU airlines.