'Iberia LÃneas 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.
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.
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.
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.
History
Main articles: History of Iberia Airlines
'''Iberia, CompañÃa 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 CompañÃa de LÃneas 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.
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.
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 -
AerolÃneas Argentinas,
Viasa and
Ladeco. . 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 Ingl̩s Р2.90%
[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.
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).
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.
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 'one'world 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.
Services
In 2005, Iberia introduced its new Business Plus Class, on its Airbus A340 aircraft.
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 articles: Iberia destinations'
Iberia also have plans to return to
Japan and
Canada in 2008/09 as well as open new markets in
New Delhi ,
Shanghai and
Hong Kong[1]
Catering
★
Gate Gourmet
Fleet
The Iberia fleet consists of the following aircraft as of August 2007:
[4]
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 articles: 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
1. Directory: World Airlines
2. Participaciones significativas del Grupo Iberia http://grupo.iberia.es/portal/site/grupoiberia/menuitem.5dcd178a7f0a73be19736c10d21061ca/
3. Airliner World January 2007
4. [2]
5. Iberia Fleet Age
6. Britons recover from strike chaos
7.
Information of interest to the passengers affected by the incidents of the 28 July 2006 at El Prat airport
External links
★
Official website
★
Fleet
★ Iberia fleet age
[3]
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