Barcelona, here we come
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Iberia. Europe's third biggest airline after merger
Iberia may offer TA-Barcelona flights
Spanish airline looking into possibility of new route in light of growing demand among Israeli public
Iberia is looking into the possibility of operating flights on the Barcelona-Tel Aviv route, the Spanish airline's global sales manager, Angel Valdemoros, said during a recent visit to Israel.
According to Valdemoros, Iberia – which recently signed a merger agreement with British Airways, becoming Europe's third biggest airline and the sixth in the world – has focused Madrid throughout the years as the city is the "hub airport" for connecting flights to all of its destinations across the world, as opposed to Barcelona.
Currently, the company currently offers 18 weekly flights on the Tel Aviv-Madrid route and is planning to add three more flights on this route.
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However, in light of the growing demand among the Israeli public for vacations in Barcelona, Iberia is looking into the possibility of operating flights on this route, which is currently controlled mostly by Israeli airlines.
Valdemoros added that since March, Iberia has been using the wide-body Airbus A340 plane on its Madrid-Tel Aviv route twice a week.
Last year, Iberia flew some 173,000 passengers on the Tel Aviv-Madrid route, and according to Valdemoros, 73% of them continued to other destinations – mostly in South America.
Iberia, which began flying to Israel in the summer of 1983, has a market share of 27% in flights from Israel to Spain. Its market share is even bigger in flights from Tel Aviv to Spain, totaling 45% of all seats.
Most of the passengers from Israel continue to South American destinations – mainly Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Bogota, Sao Paolo and Lima.
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