Iberia Plans Pre-Pandemic Flying Levels For Winter

Credit: Joe Pries

Iberia is planning to restore its entire pre-COVID flight network for winter 2023/2023 and return its capacity to 2019 levels.

The main driver for the development is the International Airlines Group (IAG) carrier's traditional long-haul network to Latin America. This includes the relaunch of 3X-weekly Madrid Barajas (MAD)-Caracas (CCS) services and 3X-weekly flights to Rio de Janeiro (GIG), starting from November. Iberia’s winter schedule runs from Oct. 30 to March 25, 2023.

Other important services will see frequency increases: Havana (HAV) to 5X-weekly; Guatemala (GUA)-El Salvador (SAL) to 7X-weekly; and to Ecuador flights connecting Quito (UIO) will be 6X-weekly and Guayaquil (GYE) 3X-weekly.

In the US, Iberia will extend its summer operation to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) until Oct. 29, operating Airbus A330s. Madrid-Miami (MIA) services will grow from 10X-weekly to double-daily and New York (JFK) from 10X- to 13X-weekly frequencies that will go double-daily in March 2023.

Among the most notable updates in Europe, Iberia is focusing on Italy, serving Milan (MXP) 35X-weekly and Rome (FCO) 37X-weekly. To Portugal, Iberia will operate to Lisbon (LIS) 40X-weekly and Funchal (FNC) on Madeira 3X-weekly.

In the winter season, Iberia will restore all its operations on the Madrid-Barcelona air shuttle to pre-pandemic levels with 87 weekly frequencies and up to 15 daily flights in each direction. Flights from Madrid to Bilbao will be served up to six times daily; flights to La Coruña, Asturias and Vigo will be served up to four times per day.

LCC subsidiary Iberia Express has scheduled capacity growth of 49% in the Balearic Islands and 28% in the Canary Islands.

This summer Iberia has not suffered the operational difficulties comparable to other European airlines and has not had to cancel any flights on its schedule. “The capacity we are operating this summer is 85% compared to our 2019 capacity levels, the same as we announced in March this year,” an Iberia spokesperson in Madrid told Routes.

Kurt Hofmann

Kurt Hofmann has been writing on the airline industry for 25 years. He appears frequently on Austrian, Swiss and German television and broadcasting…