News
Iberia adds Shanghai and Tokyo to its network as parent IAG mulls leased A380s/B777s
January 22nd 2016
Iberia has announced that pending government approvals, it plans to return to the Asia-Pacific during the fourth quarter of the year with flights to Pudong and Narita. Read More »
In a statement, the Spanish carrier said it hoped to start thrice-weekly Madrid-Narita operations from October 18. It last served Tokyo in 1998. However, it said the Madrid-Pudong service was still at the negotiation stage with a set date for the launch to be announced once the Chinese authorities have issued permits and slots. Both flights are operated by the carrier’s brand-new A330-200 MTOW, delivered last month.
Mainland carriers dominate the China-Spain direct market with Air China serving Madrid and Barcelona from Beijing alongside HNA Group’s Beijing Capital Airlines, which flies to Madrid from Hangzhou.
Iberia and British Airways (BA) owner, IAG Group, is holding talks on leasing additional A380s second hand because it believes the seven options it still holds for new frames are too expensive, its CEO, Willie Walsh, said at this week’s Airline Economics aircraft finance conference in Dublin.
"We have options on A380s ... but we are not going to exercise them because they are too expensive," he said. "We see the option of leasing them second hand as an attractive opportunity," Walsh continued, adding BA was interested in acquiring additional B777-300ERs this way. "We see going forward probably a greater mix of leased aircraft in the fleet than we've traditionally had," he said.
