Iberia initiated talks to offer three non-stop flights a week to Shanghai./ Foto: Joe Hunt
The Diplomat. Madrid
Iberia will increase its direct flights to Asia in the next few months with connections to Tokyo and Shanghai, according to an announcement yesterday by the airline’s executive president, Luis Gallego.
As from 18 October, Iberia will fly three times a week from Adolfo Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport to Narita International Airport in Tokyo, and these will be the only direct flights linking Spain and Japan .
Iberia will be providing 90.000 seats a year on the new route, which will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays . Tickets for the flights are already on sale, subject to government approval, with an offer price of 612 euros return. Between January and September 2015, the number of Japanese tourists visiting Spain grew by 25% in comparison with the same period last year.
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The airline will begin flights to the Japanese capital on 18 October
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In addition, the Spanish company intends to offer non-stop flights between Madrid and Shanghai. Such flights do not exists at present. There would be three flights a week and in order to set them up, Iberia has initiated talks with the Chinese authorities. The launch date will be determined by licences, slots and the negotiations.
Luis Gallego, who made these announcements during the visit by the President of the Comunidad de Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes, to the airline’s hangar in La Muñoza, close to Barajas, said that with the new routes, Iberia is making a further step in its intention to be a global airlines and, in addition, to move Spain closer to two economic and tourist powerhouse such as Japan and China.
