About Iberia Airlines
Iberia, is the largest airline of Spain, based in Madrid. It operates an extensive international network of services. Its main bases are Madrid Barajas and Barcelona airports.


History
Iberia was incorporated on June 28, 1927 with an initial capital investment by the financier Horacio Echeberrieta and Deutsche Luft Hansa of 1.1 million pesetas. Flight operations started on 14 December 1927 and within a year, the company was sponsored by the Spanish government to provide postal transport between Madrid and Barcelona. During the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, the aviation companies in Spain were combined and become state-controlled as a general interest public utility. This came into effect in early 1928. As a consequence, Iberia was merged into Compañía de Líneas Aéreas Subvencionadas S.A. (C.L.A.S.S.A.) and ceased activities on May 29, 1929. The name "Iberia" continued to be registered by Director-General Daniel de Araoz y Aréjula. As the name "Iberia" was still registered, it was used when operations began in nationalist-held territory towards the end of Spanish Civil War. When the company was fully reinitiated following civil war it became a purely domestic airline.
The airline was nationalised on 30 September 1944 and became part of INI. In 1946, it was the first airline to fly between Europe and South America after WWII. By the Pact of Madrid in 1953, visa requirements were eliminated for US visitors to Spain. This stimulated the commencement of transatlantic flights between Spain and United States the following year. In addition, the amendments made in Montreal to the Convention on International Civil Aviation on June 14, 1954 was very liberal to Spain, allowing impetus for mass tourism using charter planes.
By the time of the 50th anniversary in 1977, the airline carried over 10 million passengers in a year for the first time. In the late 1980s/early 1990s, Iberia also began to build up significant interests in other Spanish airlines - Aviaco, Viva Air, Binter Canarias and Binter Mediterraneo and Latin American airlines - Aerolíneas Argentinas, Viasa and Ladeco. [citation needed]
During 2001 Iberia was privatized and shares were listed on stock exchanges. By 2002, when Iberia celebrated its 75th anniversary, nearly 500 million people had flown with Iberia Airlines.