Qatar Airways lifts stake in British Airways owner IAG to 25%

British Airways aircraft at Heathrow Airport in west London, Britain.

DUBAI: Qatar Airways increased its holding in British Airways parent IAG SA to more than a quarter of the stock, tightening its grip on the European group after expansion in the Gulf was thwarted by a Saudi-led embargo.

The Doha-based airline lifted its stake in IAG, as International Consolidated Airlines Group SA is known, to 25.1% from 21.4% previously, it said in a statement Wednesday.