London - The chief of Spanish airline Iberia was Thursday reported to have demanded an "urgent meeting" with his British Airways' counterpart over BA's rival merger talks with Australia's Qantas airline.

The Financial Times and the Daily Telegraph said that Fernado Conte, President of Iberia, believed that it would be "too complex" for BA to pursue merger aspirations with both Iberia and Qantas, and that he was prepared to urge BA to choose between the two.

Conte would meet Willie Walsh, BA's chief executive, "pretty soon" to clarify where their talks were going, after being informed of BA's "rival secret talks" with Qantas only one hour before BA's public announcement on Tuesday, the Financial Times said.

"I don't have too much information about what has happened between BA and Qantas since August," Conte was reported as telling a meeting of the UK Aviation Club in London.

"I knew about it one hour before it was published, when Willie Walsh called me and informed me they were having discussions. We have on our agenda a pending meeting to clarify what we are talking about."

BA and Iberia have a history of difficult relations in spite of having built commercial ties, and the Spanish carrier has expressed its exasperation in the past at BA's previously lukewarm interest in pursuing a full merger.

The current talks began in July, when Iberia put aside rival approaches from both Germany's Lufthansa and Air France-KLM to pursue the talks with BA, its partner in the Oneworld global airline marketing alliance.

Iberia has accumulated a 9.9 per cent stake in BA in recent weeks to underline its commitment to the talks and to strengthen its hand in the negotiations. BA already holds a
13.2 per cent stake in Iberia. (dpa)