At 8:32 AM this Monday (11), the inaugural flight of Iberia to Doha took off from the Aeropuerto Internacional Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, which the Spanish company defined as «a milestone in global connectivity.» This is due to its incorporation into the joint venture of British Airways and Qatar Airways that offers the European market connectivity with over 200 destinations in Asia, Australasia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Iberia will operate a daily flight on this new route, departing as IB 6701 from Madrid at 8:30 AM to arrive in Doha at 5:35 PM. The return flight as IB 6700 will be at 00:55, landing in the Spanish capital at 7:10 AM. All times are local. Flights are operated with Airbus A330-200 aircraft with a capacity for 288 passengers (19 Business Class/269 Economy)
The new Iberia service complements the two daily flights that Qatar Airways operates to Madrid on Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 777-200/300 aircraft.
In total, both companies will have an average offer of around 6,200 seats per week each way.
«It’s not just about launching a new route, something that always fills us with excitement, but this also opens the door to and from Asia, a very extensive continent, which will offer a wide range of options to increase and diversify connectivity and, with it, tourism and business,» said Fernando Candela, president of Iberia.
Thierry Antinori, commercial director of Qatar Airways, said that today marks the beginning of a «new era of air connectivity for Spain» and that «this further strengthens Qatar as a destination of choice in the region, and the Hamad International Airport as a global connector and one of the largest gateways of the oneworld alliance, with 10 of the 13 members operating by 2024».
Other Oneworld members flying to Doha (besides Iberia and Qatar Airways) are American Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, Finnair, British Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines and SriLankan. Japan Airlines will also join them.
Madrid officials also highlighted the importance of the new route, considering that the Middle East and Asia are key markets for local tourism, aiming to become the gateway to Spain and Europe with an estimated economic impact of 55 million euros during the first year.
«This action to promote Madrid’s air connectivity is accompanied by a promotional campaign to stimulate demand from countries like the Republic of Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. This initiative, implemented by Madrid Turismo by IFEMA Madrid, consists of B2C and B2B actions to increase the visibility of Madrid and strengthen its tourism positioning in these markets», said Yolanda Perdomo, director of Madrid Turismo by IFEMA Madrid.
