Iberia Airlines

Iberia Airlines

IATA IB	ICAO IBE	Callsign IBERIA
Founded		1927
Hubs		Barajas Int'l Airport
Focus cities		Barcelona International Airport Sevilla Airport Tenerife North Airport Alicante Airport
Frequent flyer program		Iberia Plus
Alliance		oneworld
Fleet size		147
Destinations		105
Parent company		Iberia Group
Headquarters		Madrid, Spain
Key people		Fernando Conte (CEO)
Website: http://www.iberia.com

Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A., (IBEX-35:IBLA) (Iberia Airlines of Spain in English), usually shortened to Iberia, is the largest airline of Spain, based in Madrid and is the Spanish flag carrier. It operates an extensive international network of services. Its main bases are Madrid Barajas International Airport and Barcelona International Airport.^[1]

In 2005 the airline reported a net profit of €395 million —its 10^th consecutive year of profits. Iberia and Iberia Regional (Air Nostrum) transported 32,364,263 passengers in 2005. ^{[citation needed]}

The Iberia Group encompasses the Iberia Regional/Air Nostrum franchise. In addition to transporting passengers and freight, Iberia carries out many related activities, such as aircraft maintenance, handling in airports, IT systems, and in-flight catering.

Iberia Group airlines fly to over 100 destinations in 39 countries. Via code-sharing arrangements with other companies, it offers flights to another 90 destinations.^[1] With a fleet of over 200 aircraft, it makes about 1,000 flights each day. In 2002, Iberia carried 28 million passengers and 210,000 tons of freight. ^{[citation needed]}

On February 5 2006 the new Terminal 4 at Madrid Barajas was awarded to Iberia and the Oneworld alliance members. This provided much-needed expansion capabilities for Iberia. Iberia alone is responsible for around 60% of the airport's traffic. In 2005 Iberia and its regional branch Air Nostrum transported 21,619,041 passengers to/from Madrid Barajas alone.

Terminal 4 at Madrid Barajas Airport

History

Main article: History of Iberia Airlines

Iberia, Compañía Aérea de Transportes was incorporated on June 28 1927 with an initial capital investment by the financier Horacio Echeberrieta and Deutsche Luft Hansa of 1.1 million pesetas. Flight operations started on 14 December 1927 and within a year, the company was sponsored by the Spanish government to provide postal transport between Madrid and Barcelona. During the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, the aviation companies in Spain were combined and become state-controlled as a general interest public utility. This came into effect in early 1928. As a consequence, Iberia was merged into Compañía de Líneas Aéreas Subvencionadas S.A. (C.L.A.S.S.A.) and ceased activities on May 29 1929. The name "Iberia" continued to be registered by Director-General Daniel de Araoz y Aréjula. As the name "Iberia" was still registered, it was used when operations began in nationalist-held territory towards the end of Spanish Civil War. When the company was fully reinitiated following civil war it became a purely domestic airline.

The airline was nationalised on 30 September 1944 and became part of INI. In 1946, it was the first airline to fly between Europe and South America after WWII, using a Douglas DC-4 flying from Madrid to Buenos Aires.^[1] By the Pact of Madrid in 1953, visa requirements were eliminated for US visitors to Spain. This stimulated the commencement of transatlantic flights between Spain and United States the following year. In addition, the amendments made in Montreal to the Convention on International Civil Aviation on June 14 1954 was very liberal to Spain, allowing impetus for mass tourism using charter planes.

McDonnell Douglas MD-88

By the time of the 50th anniversary in 1977, the airline carried over 10 million passengers in a year for the first time. In the late 1980s/early 1990s, Iberia also began to build up significant interests in other Spanish airlines - Aviaco, Viva Air, Binter Canarias and Binter Mediterraneo and Latin American airlines - Aerolíneas Argentinas, Viasa and Ladeco. ^{[citation needed]}. Many Latin Americans blamed Iberia for the demise of Viasa and Ladeco; because of that, many Argentines opposed a possible takeover by Iberia of Aerolineas Argentinas.

During 2001 Iberia was privatized and shares were listed on stock exchanges. By 2002, when Iberia celebrated its 75^th anniversary, nearly 500 million people had flown with Iberia Airlines.

Ownership

On April 3, 2001, Iberia was privatized and included in the IBEX-35 stock index of the Madrid stock exchange. The core shareholders are: Caja Madrid – 10%, British Airways 10%, BBVA – 7%, Logista – 6.45%, SEPI – 5,20%, El Corte Inglés – 2.90% ^[2] British Airways has raised its stake in Iberia by purchasing American Airlines remaining shares, reportedly paying £13m for the small shareholding. This increases the total stake in Iberia to around 10% and preserves its two seats on the Iberia board ^[3]. British Airways also has first right to purchase another 32% of Iberia's shares. Consequently any takeover of Iberia will require the approval of British Airways. However it is widely suggested that British Airways will takeover 49% of Iberia's shares as airline consolidation in Europe heats up.

Airbus A321-200

British Airways cannot acquire more than 49% of Iberia as bilateral air services agreements between Spain and non-EU countries require Iberia to remain in overall Spanish ownerhsip (at least 51%) if the airline is to retain its rights to fly to these countries from Spain. While the new EU-US Open Skies deal on air services removes this requirement on all flights between the EU and US by EU airlines, this is not the case for the highly lucrative Latin American market on which Iberia relies for the majority of its profits.

Iberia has 24,348 employees (at March 2007).^[1]

Subsidiaries and alliances

Iberia has a 20% stake in low-cost carrier Clickair, which is based in Barcelona and a 0.95% share in Royal Air Maroc.^[1]

Iberia is allied with American Airlines, Qantas, Avianca, British Airways, and Grupo TACA, and on 1 September, 1999, the company joined the Oneworld alliance. British Airways owns 10% of its share capital.

Iberia also has a codeshare agreement with several oneworld members: Cathay Pacific on flights from Amsterdam and London Heathrow to Hong Kong, Japan Airlines on flights from Amsterdam to Tokyo Narita and Royal Jordanian from Madrid to Amman.

Airbus A319-100

Services

In 2005, Iberia introduced its new Business Plus Class, on its Airbus A340 aircrafts.

In addition, Iberia is a qualified aircraft maintenance company, servicing its own fleet and those of another 48 companies, including some leading European airlines. Iberia is the leading supplier of aircraft handling services at all Spanish airports, its airline clients number more than 200.

Iberia was a founding partner in the computerized air ticket reservation system, Amadeus, with an 18.28% stake - this was sold in 2005. Iberia is also active as a tour operator through its Viva Tours and Tiempo Libre units, and with Cacesa it supplies express parcel shipment services.

Iberia Airlines makes extensive use of e-tickets and encourages customers to print the boarding pass prior to their flight. Travellers with only carry-on baggage can go directly to the boarding gate. e-tickets sales accounted for 93% of all Iberia tickets sold in January 2006. In Spain identification of the traveller by means of an Identity document or Passport is mandatory for all airlines on all routes, including Spanish domestic ones.

Destinations

Main article: Iberia destinations

Iberia also have plans to return to Japan and Canada in 2008/09 as well as open new markets New Delhi, Shanghai and Hong Kong [2]

Catering

Gate Gourmet

Fleet

The Iberia fleet consists of the following aircraft as of August 2007:^[4]

**Iberia Airlines Fleet**
Aircraft	Total	Passengers	Routes	Notes
Airbus A319	15 (9 orders)	132 (132)	Short-medium haul
Airbus A320	51 (10 orders)	153 (153)	Short-medium haul
Airbus A321	19	174 (82/92)	Short-medium haul
Airbus A340-300	19	260 (42/218)	Long haul
Airbus A340-600	13	352 (52/300) 352 (10/52/290)	Long haul
Boeing 757-200	3	200 (42/158)	"Puente Aéreo" Madrid-Barcelona and medium haul routes	Exit from service: 2008
McDonnell Douglas MD-87	15	114 (114)	Short-medium haul	Exit from service: 2008
McDonnell Douglas MD-88	12	150 (150)	Short-medium haul	Exit from service: 2008

In November 2006, the average age of the Iberia fleet was 8.1 years ^[5]

Iberia will have an all Airbus fleet by 2008, after retiring all of its remaining Boeing and McDonnell Douglas aircraft. Iberia's livery is a Eurowhite scheme, composed of primarily white with orange and yellow accents.

Iberia Regional also has ATR-72, Dash-8 and Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (200 & 900) aircraft, operated by regional partner Air Nostrum.

Incidents and accidents

Main article: History of Iberia Airlines

On July 28 2006, ground staff at the El Prat airport went on an unannounced strike and occupied the runway. ^[6] The illegal strike, which coincided with one of the busiest weekends of the summer season, was attributed to the labor conflicts stemming from Iberia having lost its contract to provide ground services to a rival company. The airport was closed for the day and caused thousands of passenger delays. Some stranded passengers had to find their baggage and it took three days to remove the backlog of delays. In September 2006, the Spanish parliament agreed to certain compensatory payments to travellers who were affected. ^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Directory: World Airlines", Flight International, 2007-04-03, pp. 91-92.
^ Participaciones significativas del Grupo Iberia http://grupo.iberia.es/portal/site/grupoiberia/menuitem.5dcd178a7f0a73be19736c10d21061ca/
^ Airliner World January 2007
^ [1]
^ Iberia Fleet Age
^ "Britons recover from strike chaos", BBC, July 29 2006.
^ Information of interest to the passengers affected by the incidents of the 28 July 2006 at El Prat airport (HTML). Iberia (2006).

External links

Official website
Fleet
Iberia fleet age [3]

Members of the Oneworld Alliance
American Airlines • British Airways • Cathay Pacific • Finnair • Iberia Airlines • Japan Airlines • LAN • Malév Hungarian • Qantas • Royal Jordanian Former members: Aer Lingus • Canadian Airlines