FACTBOX: How combined British Airways, Iberia would look

MADRID/LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways and Spain's Iberia have agreed to merge to create the world's third-largest airline by revenue.

Following are some key facts about the new carrier:

TERMS

-- BA shareholders will receive 55 pct of the new company and Iberia 45 percent.

-- Deal will create new holding company that will own both existing airlines with dual hubs in London and Madrid.

THE MERGED AIRLINE:

-- CEO: British Airways' Willie Walsh; Chairman: Iberia's Antonio Vazquez.

-- Headquarters to be in London

-- Operations: The two will still fly under existing brands, run from dual hubs in Madrid and London

-- Aircraft: 419 aircraft

-- Destinations: 205 airports

-- Passengers per year: 61.5 million

-- Flights per day: 1,700

-- Staff: 60,282

-- Turnover: about 15 billion euros ($22.38 billion)

-- Pretax profit (2009E*): $1 billion loss (BA £401 million pretax loss; Iberia 228.8 million euro pretax loss)

RATIONALE

-- Greater financial muscle and more routes to compete with European giants Air France-KLM and Lufthansa

-- Cost savings and greater buying power on fuel, aircraft, IT and other products that analysts estimate is worth some 550 million euros a year through to 2015.

-- Very few overlapping routes. Iberia has the biggest share of the Europe-Latin America market, while BA is the leading airline on North Atlantic routes and has strong Europe-Asia connections

-- Ends BA's long chase for Iberia. Fulfills Iberia's long-time desire for consolidation

TOP FIVE AIRLINES:

Based on 2008 scheduled international passengers carried:

Rank Airline 2008 int'l passengers

1. Lufthansa 42.2 million

2. Air France 32.5 million

3. British Airways 29.0 million

4. KLM 23.8 million

5. Emirates 22.4 million

Sources: Reuters, British Airways, Iberia, IATA

* Figures expected by analysts for year to March 2009, according to data from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski, Rhys Jones and Ben Harding; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Erica Billingham)