Iberia will reinforce its flight offer in the so-called «Puente Aéreo» (Air Shuttle) between Madrid and Barcelona during the spring and summer season, which will begin on 25 March and will last until the end of October.
As reported by the company in a press release, it will operate up to 86 weekly flights and thus recover the frequency of services it had in the same period of 2019, the last full year before the start of the pandemic.
It will also increase its market share on the route between Madrid-Barajas (MAD) and Barcelona-El Prat (BCN), Spain’s two largest airports, by five percentage points compared to 2019. The airline will offer around 65% of the seats between both cities.
During the summer season, Iberia will operate a maximum of up to fifteen flights a day in both directions, depending on the day of the week, with peak activity on Wednesdays. The first services will depart from Madrid and Barcelona at seven o’clock in the morning, while the last daily connections will depart around nine o’clock in the evening.
Between 2020 and 2021, during the peak of mobility restrictions for sanitary reasons, Iberia maintained connectivity between the two cities with a reduced but stable schedule. It then began to recover gradually until it reached almost totality during the current winter season.
The Puente Aéreo
The air shuttle between Madrid and Barcelona is the company’s main domestic route. It was inaugurated in 1974 and was the first of its kind in Europe.
Iberia continued to expand its offer and optimise its operation on the route under the motto «llegar y volar» (arrive and fly): today, the company allows users to check in up to twenty minutes before departure (a figure considerably lower than that required on other routes) and offers greater flexibility of connections in the event of unforeseen circumstances. It also offers greater flexibility in flight changes through its official channels.
See also: Summer 2023: Iberia boosts its flight offer in Latin America and the United States
