Finally, the Spanish government formalized the reopening of the country to foreign tourism, fulfilling certain vaccination, testing or recovery requirements, depending on the origin of the passengers.
This measure is considered by Iberia as an «inflection point to reactivate its flights with Latin America», in what they call «a clear commitment by the airline to strengthen its leadership and take off strongly in this market.»
Thus, the company has scheduled a network for the boreal summer that connects Spain with 18 destinations in 16 Latin American countries with more than 90 weekly flights.
Markets such as Bogotá, Lima, Santiago de Chile, San José (Costa Rica) and San Pablo will have daily flights, while others such as Quito, Guayaquil, Havana, Montevideo, Panama, Guatemala, San Salvador and Cali will have between three and six weekly flights. Mexico City and Santo Domingo will lead the weekly connections with twelve and eleven weekly flights.
Buenos Aires and Caracas are two particular cases, tied to the uncertainty of the governmental measures that govern both countries. The airline obtained approval for three weekly flights to Buenos Aires in June, which expects to turn into six during July, although this will depend on the approval of the Argentine government. Flights to the Venezuelan capital also depend on the reauthorization of regular operations from Spain, today limited to special cases under the label of «humanitarian», such as the one scheduled for June 14.
“This year Iberia celebrates 75 years flying to Latin America and we would like nothing more than to celebrate this round anniversary by recovering our entire network of destinations and frequencies. We are convinced that for the recovery it is necessary to bet and we bet on Latin America, so this summer we want it to be the inflection point to take off again in this market with the same force as always. We return with all the prevention and hygiene measures that guarantee safety, with a more modern and sustainable fleet, and a wide network of connections because Iberia wants to continue being the natural bridge between Latin America and Europe,» concluded Víctor Moneo, LATAM Sales Director and Institutional Agreements of Iberia.
As can be seen in Cirium, in July Iberia has an offer of 260,965 seats between Madrid and Latin America, which means a recovery of 67.2% compared to the same month of 2019.
Weekly flights between Madrid and Latin America / Caribbean
From | To | July | August | September |
---|---|---|---|---|
Madrid, ES | Bogota, CO | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Madrid, ES | Caracas, VE (subject to government approval) | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Madrid, ES | Cali, CO | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Madrid, ES | Buenos Aires, BA, AR (subject to government approval) | 7 | 7 | 10 |
Madrid, ES | Sao Paulo-Guarulhos, SP, BR | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Madrid, ES | Guatemala City, GT - El Salvador | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Madrid, ES | Guayaquil, EC | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Madrid, ES | Havana, CU | 4 | 4 | 5 |
Madrid, ES | Lima, PE | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Madrid, ES | Mexico City, MX | 12 | 12 | 14 |
Madrid, ES | Montevideo, UY | 3 | 5 | 5 |
Madrid, ES | Panama City, PA | 6 | 6 | 5 |
Madrid, ES | Santiago, CL | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Madrid, ES | Santo Domingo, DO | 11 | 11 | 10 |
Madrid, ES | San Jose, CR | 7 | 7 | 5 |
Madrid, ES | San Juan, PR, US | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Madrid, ES | Quito, EC | 6 | 6 | 5 |
Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Lima, Santiago de Chile and Quito will receive the A350-900, while the rest of the network will alternate between A330-200 and A330-300 aircraft.
Iberia also highlighted the role of the Madrid-Barajas airport as a hub between Latin America and the rest of Europe, offering connections to more than 90 destinations both in the Old Continent and in Africa.
«In Spain, with more daily flights to the main Spanish cities: Barcelona, Bilbao, A Coruña and Valencia, and also reinforcing the Canary and Balearic Islands, the great commitment of Iberia Express that recovers the capacity it had with both markets in 2019» they detailed, while in Africa «Iberia Regional / Air Nostrum will fly to Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangier and Algiers, and Iberia will increase its operation with Dakar up to five weekly frequencies from July».