Business directors of Iberia Express and Iberia, Silvia Mosquera and Marco Sansavini/. Picture: J.G.
Julio García. Madrid
Yesterday, Iberia described the year 2014 as “historic” because of the return to profits of the airline, because of the high level of satisfaction of its clients and because of the punctuality of its flights. That is how its business director, Marco Sansavini, expressed it during the presentation, in FITUR, of the results of last year of this Spanish airline and of the forecast for 2015.
Sansavini was pleased by the return of profits to the company and he said that “after six years, we are profitable again”, although he explained that the figures will be made public in the coming months. Another outstanding aspect was the punctuality of Iberia’s flights, the third most punctual in the world, and of those of its low cost subsidiary, Iberia Express, which are the first.
In 2014, both airlines strengthened and complemented their network with 30 new routes (23 additional), being five of them long-range routes. Therefore, Iberia started to operate to Montevideo, Santo Domingo, Istanbul and Athens, and its low cost subsidiary to Stockholm, Amsterdam, Hanover and Stuttgart.
The company launches the online check-in from the moment of purchase of the tickets
As novelties, he talked about the new free service to do the online check-in from the moment of purchase of the ticket, regardless of the flight’s date; the increase of 40% of the seats for the route Madrid-Santo Domingo, which means operating every day to the Dominican Republic; and the reception of the order of 8 Airbus A330/200 and 8 Airbus A-350.
When asked by journalists, Sansavini answered that Iberia will maintain its current price policy for the tickets, based on supply and demand, despite the fall in oil prices. He added that the oil purchased by the company was acquired at a higher price than the current one and that its payment also depends on the fluctuation of the exchange rate from dollars to euros.
Regarding the resumption of flights to Havana, as of July, he explained that this is due to the restructuring of the company that will allow its sustainability and its profitability in the future and in view of the good prospects for the European businesspeople opening in Cuba with the start of relations with the United States.
On the other hand, Iberia’s Shuttle Service Madrid-Barcelona “is going to be maintained, but not in the current form, because it is loss-making”, so it will be changed in the next months. There is also a “challenge” for the AVE to reach the terminal T-4, with the objective of making the connections of its flights with Renfe’s journeys “as efficient as possible”.
