Tag Archives: MAD

Iberia Group is adding new destinations

Iberia Group (Iberia and Iberia Express) (Madrid) has announced new routes from its Madrid hub.

Iberia Express has already added a new route to Stockholm (Arlanda) with two weekly flights. It will also add a new route to Amsterdam with twice-daily service starting on July 1.

Iberia Express is also increasing the number of flights to Berlin, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt.

Iberia will add daily service to Istanbul starting on June 20. Santo Domingo will be added on September 1 with five weekly nonstop flights. Athens, which has been a summer route, will become a new year-round route.

Iberia is adding three weekly frequencies to Chicago (O’Hare) for the summer, two more to Panama City starting in July and additional frequencies to Brussels, Geneva, Munich, Rome, Tel Aviv, Venice and Zurich. Iberia has also resumed nonstop flights to Boston and Los Angeles and will also operate summer routes to Dubrovnik, St. Petersburg (Russia) and Zagreb.

Copyright Photo: Ariel Shocron/AirlinersGallery.com. Iberia Express’ Airbus A320-216 EC-LVQ (msn 5590) climbs away from the Madrid hub.

Iberia:

Iberia Express:

SAS to connect the oil region of Norway with Houston, Texas

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) is launching services between Stavanger, Norway and Houston (Bush Intercontinental) on August 20. This fulfils the wishes of leading players in the oil industry for better connections between Norway, and the rest of Scandinavia, and Houston, Texas.

The route will be operated by a business version of the Boeing 737-700 and will have an SAS Long Haul Business Class concept on board, with just 44 comfortable business seats, along with a modern inflight entertainment system and full-service meals and service.

SAS has entered into a wet lease agreement with PrivatAir (Geneva) , which has this special version of the Boeing 737-700. The aircraft will carry SAS’s distinctive colors and logo.

The route will launch on August 20, just ahead of the major oil exhibition in Stavanger, Offshore Northern Seas (ONS). Tickets for route, which will operate daily except Saturdays, go on sale on April 29.

Read the article by Bloomberg Businessweek: CLICK HERE

Top Copyright Photo: Ariel Shocron/AirlinersGallery.com. SAS’ Boeing 737-783 LN-RRB (msn 32276) approaches the runway at Madrid (Barajas).

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS:

PrivatAir:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Keith Burton/AirlinersGallery.com. PrivatAir’s Boeing 737-7AK HB-JJA (34303) arrives in Amsterdam.

AMR Corporation and US Airways file a motion to set merger trial for November 12, 2013

AMR Corporation (Dallas/Fort Worth), the parent company of American Airlines, Inc. (Dallas/Fort Worth), and US Airways Group, Inc. (US Airways) (Phoenix) have announced that they filed a motion to set a trial date and a supporting brief in the United States District Court for the District Of Columbia in connection with the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the merger of the two airlines. In the motion, American Airlines and US Airways have requested a November 12, 2013 trial date.

In their filing, the Companies explain that their proposed trial date is very reasonable by recent historical standards. The DOJ request for 180 days, especially with one of the parties in bankruptcy, however, would be unprecedented and unreasonable in the circumstances. Based on the DOJ merger cases litigated to a decision since 2001, the average time from the DOJ’s complaint to trial is 70 days.

Top Copyright Photo: Ole Simon/AirlinersGallery.com. American Airlines’ Boeing 777-223 ER N781AN (msn 29586) approaches Madrid for landing.

American Airlines:

US Airways:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-132 N814AW (msn 1281) lands at Long Beach near Los Angeles.

Gestair Cargo rebrands back to Cygnus Air

Gestair Cargo (Madrid) has rebranded back to its original name of Cygnus Air Corporacion.

The airline is currently owned by the Macholfam International (Grupo Gestair) (60%) and IMES (Grupo ACS) (40%) according to Wikipedia.

Top Copyright Photo: Ole Simon/AirlinersGallery.com. This Gestair Cargo color scheme and name was introduced in 2008.

Bottom Copyright Photo: Gunter Mayer. Now ex-Iberia Boeing 757-236 EC-KLD (msn 24121), pictured at Nuremberg at night, is wearing the basic Gestair livery now with Cygnus Air Corporacion titles and the new (old) tail logo.

IAG sinks to a pretax loss of $1.29 billion due to Iberia

International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) (British Airways and Iberia) (London) presented the Group’s consolidated results for the year to December 31, 2012. In addition, IAG presented combined results for the comparative year to December 31, 2011, including Iberia’s first 21 days of January in 2011.

IAG period highlights on combined results:

· Operating loss for the year to December 31, 2012 of €23 million before exceptional items ($29.8 million) (2011: operating profit €485 million). After exceptional items operating loss for the year not including Iberia restructuring and impairment was €68 million, compared to our guidance in November of €120 million

· Before exceptional items, British Airways made an operating profit of €347 million in the year to December 31, 2012 and Iberia made an operating loss of €351 million

· Non-operating charges for the year were €384 million, including €266 million related to non-cash pensions accounting requirements

· Loss before tax for the year of €997 million ($1.29 billion) (2011: profit before tax of €503 million), including restructuring charge of €202 million for the Iberia transformation plan and €343 million impairment of Iberia intangible assets

· Revenue for the year up 10.9 per cent to €18,117 million (2011: €16,339 million), including €872 million or 5.4 per cent currency impact. Passenger unit revenue for the year up 9.4 per cent, on top of volume increases of 2.8 per cent

· Fuel costs up 20.4 per cent to €6,101 million (2011: €5,068 million before exceptional items). Fuel unit costs up 16.8 per cent, or 8.4 per cent at constant currency

· Non-fuel costs before exceptional items, up 11.6 per cent at €12,039 million, including €543 million of adverse currency translation. Non-fuel unit costs up 8.5 per cent, or 3.8 per cent at constant currency

· Capital investment of €1,239 million (2011: €1,071 million) including over €400 million on pre-delivery payments for future aircraft

· Cash of €2,909 million at December 31, 2012 was down €826 million on 2011 year end (December 2011: €3,735 million). Group net debt up €741 million to €1,889 million (December 2011: €1,148 million)

Many will now question what was British Airways thinking when it merged with Iberia to form the IAG? Mergers are not always the answer.

Copyright Photo: With its continued employee strikes, lack of labor peace and a soft economy in Spain, Iberia is a bleeding airline bringing down British Airways and the IAG. Iberia’s Airbus A340-313X EC-KSE (msn 170) climbs away from the MAD hub.

British Airways:

Iberia:

Iberia takes delivery of its first Airbus A330-300

Iberia (Madrid) has taken delivery of the first of the five Airbus A330-302s that will enter service for the Spanish airline this year. The new type landed at 11:46 a.m. (1146) today at Iberia’s T4 hub at Madrid-Barajas airport.

The aircraft, A330-302 EC-LUB (msn 1377), is named “Tikal” and is equipped with IB’s new business and economy class interiors for long-haul flights.

In other news, the flag carrier is facing a new round of strikes by its employees on February 18 and February 22, grounding 415 of the 1,060 flights according to Reuters. The strike is also expected to affect Vueling Airlines and Iberia Express.

Copyright Photo: #SaveIberia. EC-LUB arrives at the MAD base. The new type is due to go into revenue service on the Madrid-Luanda route. Iberia had wanted to introduce a new livery with this new type but has decided to delay any new brand.

Iberia:

Iberia to eliminate now 3,807 jobs

Iberia (Madrid) now says it will cut 3,807 jobs. The airline failed to impress its unions with this lower number of job cuts and faces new rounds of strikes later this month according to this report by Reuters.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Iberia:

Strikes against Iberia are cancelled for this month, Iberia to drop three more Madrid routes

Iberia (Madrid) will not be dealing with any strikes this month. The unions have called off their December strikes and will readjust their strategy against the company in January. Iberia issued the following statement:

For Iberia, “calling off the strike can and should be a first step along the necessary path of dialogue and negotiation, which is the sole reasonable way to resolve the company’s problems without harming customers.”

The unions decided to call off the strike after meeting with Iberia Management under the auspices of the mediation and arbitration service. No agreement was reached at the meeting, despite Iberia’s undertaking to be flexible in considering the proposals advanced by the unions. However, though the opportunity to move forward was missed, the meeting could be another step towards future negotiations. Iberia hopes that in the future the possibilities of dialogue and negotiations will be exhausted before any new strikes are called since they inflict great harm on the company and its customers.

Iberia is delighted that its customers may now look forward to travelling without problems, though it regrets the damage already caused to company’s public image and to its business.

Iberia also thanks the mediation and arbitration service for its herculean efforts two bring the tow side closer together. Though no agreement was reached, its efforts had very positive results for Iberia’s customers.

Meanwhile Iberia will drop three more routes from Madrid in January: Athens (January 9), Cairo (January 21) and Istanbul (January 21) per Airline Route.

Iberia:

British Airways wants to cut 400 cabin staff positions

British Airways (London) is currently in negotiations to cut 400 cabin staff positions according to this report by Reuters.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Bernardo Andrade. Boeing 767-336 ER G-BNWS (msn 25826) climbs away from Madrid bound for the London Heathrow hub.

British Airways:

Vueling Airlines to add 28 new routes from Barcelona next summer

Vueling Airlines (Barcelona) is again increasing its route network at its home airport next summer. The low-fare airline issued the following statement:

Vueling in 2013 will for the fourth consecutive year, will expand operations at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, where it plans to reach 100 direct destinations during the upcoming summer season. Highlights include new routes especially attractive to the business traveler as London-Gatwick, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf, as well as a significant increase in flights to new cities in Germany, France, Italy and Scandinavia.

In the last two seasons of summer, the company has launched a total of 45 new destinations that have made the second El Prat airport in Europe after Frankfurt, with greater flight of short and medium haul by your company dominant airline. The goal is that by 2014 Vueling Barcelona will become the European leader in this type of connections.

Of the 28 new routes planned for next summer IATA season, which begins in March 2013, highlights five never before operated from El Prat: Dresden (Germany), Rennes (France), Fez (Morocco), Rhodes and Kos (Greece ). The airline also added four new countries to its network: Gambia (Banjul), Finland (Helsinki), Bulgaria (Sofia) and Luxembourg.

Vueling, which already flies to London-Heathrow, starting in 2013 the route London-Gatwick Barcelona. It also launched routes to other European cities and North particularly attractive to business travelers and Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Turin and Casablanca. With this, the company responds to the demand for direct connections between Barcelona and different regions of interest to businesses. The goal is to reach Vueling end of 2013 to 50% of business travelers on its flights.

To meet this new offering, the airline will increase the number of aircraft based in El Prat from 34 to 43 and will include 500 new employees, including pilots, cabin crews and support personnel from different categories and specialties.

With this new momentum, Vueling consolidates its leadership position in El Prat, which currently has a market share of 30%, operating over 240 flights daily. Under this increased activity, Barcelona Vueling expects to attract a greater number of travelers who visited the city during the summer of 2012 on flights of the company, which was 4.7 million.

Besides Barcelona, Vueling will also grow in most of its other operating bases. Next season, there will be more flights from Bilbao to Canaries, Greek Islands and the route to Berlin will operate from the beginning of the summer. From Malaga and Alicante, there will be more routes to France and Benelux.Baleares will increase capacity on some of its existing routes, such as Palma-Moscow spends three to five times a week. Paris Orly and Amsterdam increase capacity in existing flights. And finally, in Canary thinking times will improve the business traveler and the connection with northern Europe through the company’s hub in Barcelona.

Vueling renews communication code and presents a new class Excellence for the business traveler Vueling continues to work to improve services for the business traveler. This launches the new class to Excellence, a very competitive price, offers all the elements required by the passenger to fly with flexibility, convenience and speed. Different cabin seating, lounge access, preferential boarding, ergonomic head, snack on board, total flexibility changes and extra points loyalty plans of the company are some of the attributes of this rate.

All these developments are part of a significant change for the airline: a new communication code that aims to project maturity and current size of the company without sacrificing the innovative spirit that has always characterized the brand. The starting point of all the work of the company is its people.

All this is included in a brand new concept:

LOVE THE WAY YOU FLY

It is a concept that denotes quality international service and closeness and trust.

Vueling Airlines: