Iberia Reflects On A Choppy 2021

While 2021 was not as challenging as 2020 for the airline industry, it was still problematic due to government-imposed travel restrictions. In a statement published earlier this week, Spanish national flag carrier Iberia spoke about coping with the ongoing pandemic and how it was busy recovering its global network.

Iberia Airbus A350
Iberia has been focused on recovering its global network. Photo: Iberia

In 2021, the Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)-based airline had been busy rebuilding its network by restoring routes and services and stimulating demand. Throughout the year, Iberia says it acted boldly to restore all routes and services that had been affected by the medical emergency.

Iberia has been flying to Latin America for 75 years

2021 marked Iberia’s 75th anniversary of flights from the Spanish capital to Latin America, and to celebrate, Iberia upped its frequencies of flights to Mexico, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. The full-service airline also plans to increase frequencies to Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in early 2022.

A significant boost to the IAG-owned airline happened on November 8th when after having been closed for 20 months, the USA opened up travel to people from Europe. As a result of this, Iberia now operates 70 flights a week between Madrid and Boston, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, and New York.

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Iberia is continuing flying to the Maldives

After seeing the popularity of its new route to Velana International Airport (MLE) in the Maldives last summer, Iberia has decided to continue flying the route for the 2021/2022 winter season. The same goes for Aeropuerto Internacional Alfonso Bonilla Aragón (CLO) in Cali, Colombia.

On the Iberian Peninsula, Iberia has upped the frequencies of its walk on bridge flights between Madrid and Barcelona by 50%, while at the same time adding more flights to Asturias, Bilbao, Corunna, Santander, and San Sebastian.

Iberia Maldives flights
Iberia is offering winter sun flights to the Maldives. Photo: Iberia

Iberia focused on innovation and sustainability to provide customers with a smoother, safer, and more comfortable travel experience. One of the ways it did this was to make its hub at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD) a leader in sustainable practices. Iberia also connected more with its customers by providing up-to-date health and COVID-19 travel restrictions for its destinations.

To help avoid interaction between airlines staff and the public, Iberia made travel through Madrid airport as contactless as possible in the hope of stemming unnecessary infections.

The measures included:

  • Several apps for digitizing and verifying all Covid-related documentation
  • The ability for people to check their luggage in from home
  • Biometric passenger identification at security controls and at the boarding gates

2021 was a year of solidarity

Calling 2021 “a year of solidarity,” Iberia was able to point out how the pandemic provided them with many opportunities to show how vital airlines are to civil society. During last year, Iberia flew repatriation flights to Morocco, Nepal, and Venezuela. In total, to help get stranded, Spaniards and Spanish residents home Iberia flew 70 flights to 201 countries.

constant climate Iberia Cargo
In 2021 Iberia delivered more than six million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Photo: Iberia

Regarding the transport and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, Iberia Cargo carried more than six million doses to the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Melilla, and several counties in Central and South America.

How do you think Iberia performed in 2021? Please tell us your thoughts in the comments.



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