Iberia History

1927 – 1937: The Early Years
Iberia, Compañía Aérea de Transporte, was formally founded on June 28, 1927.
In the company’s first decade it linked major cities on the Spanish mainland, the Canary Islands, and North Africa.

Iberia’s Takeoff
On December 14, 1927, King Alfonso XIII looked on as Spain’s first commercial air route –Madrid- Barcelona- was opened.

1938 – 1948: Flights to the World
In the early 1940s Iberia began regular flights to London, Lisbon, Paris and Rome in Europe, and also to Buenos Aires and Montevideo across the South Atlantic.

1949 – 1959: Iberia Reaches New York
In the 1950s Iberia surpassed the half-million passenger mark, and began flights between Spain and New York in three Super Constellations. They were named for Columbus’ ships, the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María.

1960 – 1970: The Jet Age Begins
As of the 1960s, the new jet aircraft began to replace the slower propeller-driven planes. In this decade Iberia also began to perform passenger and aircraft handling services in all Spanish airports.

1970 – 1980: Priority: Customer Service
In these years greater stress was placed on customer service, not only by offering new destinations such as Istanbul, Athens, Warsaw, Budapest, and Kuwait, but also by launching pioneer services such as the Madrid-Barcelona air shuttle, the Serviberia telephone service line, the Red Jackets and also the in-flight magazine, Ronda Iberia.

1980 – 1990: Unity Makes Strength
The airlines realised in this period that they must join forces in order to cut costs and offer the best service to customers. This led to the creation of the first consortiums for centralising aircraft maintenance, and air ticket reservations.

1990 – 2000: Liberalisation
This was a key decade in the history of Iberia and of commercial aviation in general. These were years of major changes, and not only because of the Gulf War, which had a serious impact on all the airlines. For one thing, air transport in Europe was de-regulated. In addition, Iberia launched the first international customer loyalty programme in Europe, and also the pioneering of their web site.

2000 – 2005: A Profitable and Socially Responsible Company
Iberia is a good example of the compatibility of profitable operations with social and environmental responsibility.

On 3 April, 2005, Iberia’s privatisation process was completed, when its shares were listed for the first time on the stock exchange. The following year Iberia was included in the selective Ibex-35 stock market index.

2005-2008
The long-haul market, a priority under Iberia’s 2006-2008 strategic plan, now accounts for more than 60% of all the airline’s revenue passenger kilometers. In 2007 the company launched new routes from Spain to Washington and Boston in the United States, added frequencies to Central America, São Paulo and Montevideo, and offered additional seats to most other destinations by operating aircraft with greater capacity.
Iberia today is Spain’s leading airline and also market leader on Europe-Latin America routes. Iberia is one of Europe’s most profitable scheduled airlines. At the same time it is distinguished by its social, economic, and environmental policies. Iberia’s commitment to the integration of disabled people in the workplace has made it one of the three companies best perceived for its social policies and number one in employee cooperation programmes, according to the independent Enterprise and Society Foundation. Together with its franchise partner Iberia Regional, Iberia completes about 1,000 flights each day to more than 100 destinations.