Iberia Boosts Links to Israel

Richard Maslen April 20, 2011

Spain’s flag carrier Iberia is to offer almost a quarter more seats between Madrid and Tel Aviv this summer, highlighting the Israeli city as its most important medium-haul destination. The capacity growth has been achieved through the introduction of an additional four weekly flights as well as the use of larger aircraft on some of its existing services.

It will offer a total of 264,000 seats, according to a company statement, with 18 flights per week. It plans to increase this to three flights per day “as soon as possible,” it says. The route is currently served by Airbus A319s but this summer Iberia will use A340-300s, offering double the seating capacity, on two of its weekly flights, increasing to three from May and four before the end of the year.

Iberia launched flights to Israel in July 1983 and in 2010 carried some 173,000 passengers on the Madrid-Tel Aviv route, a 7.3 per cent increase over the previous year. Its loads were also stronger, up five points higher at 80 per cent. In the past year an estimated 30,000 O&D passengers travelled between Madrid and Tel Aviv, so when you compare this with the airline’s own data, the figures clearly show a strong demand away from Spain.

The increase in frequencies also means more and better connections for passengers bound to or from Iberia's 26 destinations in the Americas, including two flights every day to Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Mexico City, Bogota, and Lima. According to Iberia, many Israeli passengers fly on with Iberia to Portugal, and to other European destinations like London, Paris, and Rome. According to the latest data from the airline, 73 per cent of all passengers begin or end their journeys in cities other than Madrid, with Buenos Aires in first place, followed by Mexico City, Bogota, Lisbon, São Paulo, Miami, and Lima.

The expansion of Madrid-Tel Aviv services comes in response to growing demand for flights between Israel and Spain and between Israel and the Americas, and particularly to South America. The larger capacity will facilitate tourism and trade, while strengthening Israel's already close ties with Spain and Latin America. The expansion of seat supply will also help Iberia enlarge its market share on the route, currently 27 per cent overall, and 43 per cent in Business Class. Iberia hopes to consolidate its leadership in the premium segment with its new medium-haul Business Club seating section.