Interest is mounting in Spain's flagship carrier

BA said it had approached a number of private equity companies about forming a consortium to manage a bid.

But the UK airline, which already owns 10% of Iberia, ruled out making a lone bid for the Spanish firm.

Iberia said last month that the private equity firm Texas Pacific Group was targeting the airline with a 3.4bn euro (�2.3bn; $4.5bn) takeover approach.

BA's announcement followed similar interest in Iberia from the German airline Lufthansa.

Iberia was "of strategic interest to Lufthansa in principle", a spokesman for Germany's biggest airline said.

Takeover rumours surrounding Iberia have seen the airline's shares soar by almost 80% in the last six months.