The Spanish government may be forced to pay British Airways and American Airlines up to €101m ($92.4m) when it goes ahead with its long-delayed initial public offering of Iberia, Spain's national airline, in April.

At the end of 1999 BA led a consortium to buy part of Iberia in a trade sale in advance of the IPO. However, the UK airline, together with American Airlines, has negotiated an agreement with the Spanish government to receive compensation for any difference between the original purchase value of its stake and its value in the forthcoming IPO.