More signs of turnaround at British Airways’ International Airlines Group sibling Iberia. The airline is to reinstate its Madrid – Johannesburg route from Monday 1 August 2016.
The route was one of a number of long-haul routes suspended by Iberia in 2013 as part of a move to return the airline to profitably.
Iberia now claims to have reinstated all the long-haul routes it has suspended in recent years.
Iberia will fly to Johannesburg three times a week using its latest A330-300 in a two class (business and economy) configuration.
The route will be codeshared with British Airways and connections will be available from London.
Iberia is expected to announce more new long-haul routes in the coming months as it is due to take delivery of Airbus A330-200 and A350 aircraft over the next few years. Other cities previously mooted by Iberia at the same time as Johannesburg were Doha, Toronto and Tokyo.
Whilst this announcement is clearly positive news, when Iberia announces new routes to the Middle East and Asia, this will be a sign that it is turning Madrid into a global aviation hub.