yes dead right about Aeroflot I had overlooked that there are two parties to aircraft ownership so often these days.
Rutan thanks-that explains things -I just could not figure out why anyone would be registered in Madrid rather than London but as you say there are obscure reasons fro them doing it.
i am not quite sure how wholly British BA can be though as ultimately you have to have a Company registration somewhere and if IAG own BA then ultimately many important decisions are taken away from uk. In these multi jurisdictional cases usually one is allowed to have a majority of board meetings in a specified place-ultimate ownership location not necessarily all of them .
Mind you with an Irish head of business and Spaniard as both Chairman and CEO (never ever a good arrangement in my mind) the 'britishness is already watered down a fair bit.
And of course we have to pay for the water too