Iberia, BA to approve merger deal Mar 25 - report

The merger will be conditional on shareholder agreement and the go ahead from competition authorities.

It will start to fly at the end of the year with Antonio Vazquez, current Iberia chairman, as the merged group's chairman, the paper reported.

No-one at Iberia was immediately available to comment on the report.

Iberia is seeking strength in size through its planned merger with BA to create the world's third-largest airline by revenue. Airlines' passenger numbers have plummeted as leisure and business travellers scale back travel in a global slowdown.

(Reporting by Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Hans Peters)