Iberia, the Spanish airline currently the target of takeover bids, is to launch services between Madrid and both Prague and Warsaw at the start of next year”s summer season on 28 March.
The airline has also announced profits of ”74.8 (”50m) for the first half of the year, its best for five years and a record load factor of 80.2%.
In keeping with the goals set in Iberia's strategic plan, long haul routes logged the strongest growth, with a 10.1% increase in RPKs (revenue passenger kilometres), and a 6.5% rise in ASKs (available seat kilometres).
Iberia says the new destinations strengthen its position in Eastern Europe, where it flies to Moscow and, since March, Bucharest. It is also to introduce flights to St Petersburg next June.
On the Prague route the airline previously code shared with Czech Airlines who continue with a three times daily service. With regard to Warsaw the established carrier is Spannair.
The aircraft used on the new flights will be 171-seat Airbus A320s, featuring the airline”s European Business Class.
On the take-over front, the British Airways and Trans Pacific Group (TPG) consortium is still at due diligence stage, with an announcement due at the end of the month.
However, there are further complications to be sorted out, as the new EU - US Open Skies agreement does away with European bilaterals, although not so for the highly lucrative Latin American market, which Iberia relies upon for the majority of its profits. New arrangements will have to be made.