The Iberia Group is making steady progress in reactivating travel and, in the coming summer months, will make a commitment to recover destinations and schedule more capacity in countries where restrictions allow. Thus, in the third quarter, the Iberia Group will operate flights to 112 destinations in Madrid. There will be 24 long distance destinations and another 88 short and medium distance destinations operated by Iberia, Iberia Express and Iberia Regional / Air Nostrum.
The main novelty of the airline this summer will be the direct flights from Madrid to the Maldives. The company has applied for permits to operate two weekly frequencies in the central summer months. This route represents a change in the strategy that Iberia has developed because it is directed almost exclusively to the holiday segment and will be a point-to-point flight.
Madrid - Male (Maldives) with Iberia.
Between July 2 and August 31, 2021, the Spanish national airline will offer three flights a week between its base at Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suarez Airport and Malé-Velana Airport in the Maldives. The flights will be operated with Airbus A330-200 or A330-300 aircraft, with a capacity of up to 292 passengers in Business, Premium and Economy classes.
Madrid 21:20 - 11:25 +1 Male - Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Male 22:00 - 06:10 +1 Madrid - Wednesday, Friday, Sunday
Iberia has no direct or indirect competition on this route. The company was already offering this route through Doha, based on a partnership with Qatar Airways, its partner in the Oneworld alliance. The destination Maldives is served, from Europe, by Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Condor, Edelweiss Air, Lufthansa, Neos, Aeroflot or Turkish Airlines. The local Maldives company does not operate flights to the Old Continent.
Iberia will operate flights to the five US destinations that existed in the operational program before the pandemic.
United States they are another market whose opening generates great interest, both due to the arrival of visitors in Spain and due to tourists who want to go on holiday from Spain. The airline operates flights to Miami and New York and, in the summer months, will also operate flights to Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles, the five destinations that operated throughout the year before the pandemic.
In Latin America, Iberia has scheduled direct flights to Guayaquil, Ecuador, starting in May. From July there will be two routes to Cali and San Juan de Puerto Rico. The company is waiting for the reopening of Venezuela to resume flights to Caracas. Thus, the airline would offer flights from Madrid to 18 Latin American capitals.
In Europe, the Iberia Group will recover much of its summer routes in the third quarter.
In Europe, Croatia will be one of its markets, with Iberia, Iberia Express and Iberia Regional / Air Nostrum flights to four destinations: Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar and Zagreb. Into the Italy, the Iberia Group airlines will operate flights to classic destinations such as Bologna, Florence, Milan, Rome and Venice. Also, this summer will be added other destinations such as Bari, Cagliari, Catania, Olbia and Palermo which will operate in the central summer months.
In Portugal, summer flights to Faro and Funchal operated by Iberia Regional / Air Nostrum will be added to the flight schedule where we already find Lisbon and Porto, as well as a charter program of Iberia, from Lisbon and Porto to the island of Porto Santo.
In Greece, Iberia operations also include Iberia and Iberia Express flights to international destinations preferred by holidaymakers, such as Heraklion (Crete), Kefalonia, Mykonos and Santorini. In addition, from June, Iberia will resume operations to Bergen and Oslo, Budapest and Prague, and Iberia Express will have flights to Edinburgh, Manchester and, in July, with Reykjavik.
Iberia Regional / Air Nostrum will also operate flights to North Africa.
In North Africa, Iberia Regional / Air Nostrum will fly to Casablanca, Marrakech and Tangier as soon as Morocco reopens its borders and, from June, to Algiers in Algeria.
The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands will be the big bet of the Iberia Express.
In Spain, in July and August, the low cost will help recover the capacity that the airline had in 2019, with over 507.000 seats scheduled for those two months between the Canary Islands and the Peninsula and another 276.000 seats between the Balearic Islands and the Peninsula.
In the same months, Iberia Regional / Air Nostrum will operate flights to all destinations served before the pandemic, with 60 additional routes to those operating for Iberia, originating in or destined for Madrid. It will fly directly from the Balearic Islands to various destinations in Europe: from Mallorca to Nice and from Ibiza to Geneva, Nice and Zurich.