136 Ukrainian refugees landed this afternoon at Adolfo Suaréz Airport, coming from flight IB3279 between Budapest – Madrid, which took off from Hungary at 15:35 hours and landed at Barajas at 18:50 hours.
Until then Iberia has mobilized 259 people on regular flights to the Hungarian capital, in coordination with the Spanish Embassy in Hungary, thus ensuring support and traceability of refugees in Spain. In addition to the outbound air operation from Madrid, Iberia and IAG Cargo have once again transported humanitarian supplies for the Red Cross.
Normally the route to Budapest (BUD) is operated with narrowbody aircraft, specifically the Airbus A320 family, but since March 10 the company has modified operations to widebody Airbus A330 or A350 aircraft to increase cargo and passenger capacity. Eight flights have been carried out, with more than 100 tons of humanitarian cargo for SEPLA Ayuda and the Red Cross.
Iberia also made two charter flights to Poland: one to Krakow for the Queen Sofia Foundation, in collaboration with the community of Madrid; and another to Warsaw for the Ana Carolina Diez Mahou Foundation and the María de Villota Legacy.
“Ukraine is going through a dramatic situation and needs everyone’s solidarity. At Iberia we have made ourselves available to the Government and different NGOs to channel humanitarian aid and collaborate by providing our means, flights sent humanitarian cargo and bringing refugees to Spain,” said Teresa Parejo, Iberia’s Sustainability Director.
Donations to Red Cross and UNICEF
Iberia has also opened an internal channel for company employees to make donations to UNICEF and the Red Cross for the crisis in Ukraine. The Spanish airline will make a donation of the same amount as the employees’ donations and, with the funds collected, the Red Cross and UNICEF will purchase necessary supplies such as food and medicines in the conflict zone where both NGOs are located. This system saves transportation costs and benefits the local economy.
