Hello everyone,
Please share your thoughts. I wonder what they have in plan for "new and enhanced inflight services" and also looking forward to the new uniforms.

https://grupo.iberia.es/news/20012020/i ... s-for-2020
https://grupo.iberia.es/news/20012020/2 ... -para-2020 (En espanol)

And as always...please participate responsibly!

Are you able to translate key points into English?
- New uniforms?
- New inflight service? Perhaps moving to the same provider as BA?

Anything else?

new and enhanced inflight services = Do&Co

Uniforms were initially shown almost 2 years ago. They were supposed to launch last year, but everything got delayed to this year MBMFW

himarhernandez wrote:

Hello everyone,
Please share your thoughts. I wonder what they have in plan for "new and enhanced inflight services" and also looking forward to the new uniforms.

https://grupo.iberia.es/news/20012020/i ... s-for-2020
https://grupo.iberia.es/news/20012020/2 ... -para-2020 (En espanol)

And as always...please participate responsibly!

Click the EN at the top right of the page instead of the ES it defaults to

I like IB’s focus on both improved quality of experience and sustainability in their business model. Bravo

Translation of some of the 2020 plans:

- The launch of "Hola Madrid Stopover". Similar to Icelandair's scheme, which would allow passengers to turn a short layover on Madrid into a lengthier stay of 1-7 days, with no increase in the ticket price

- Five A350-900s are expected to be delivered this year, the first of which will join the fleet in March

- Two A320NEOs to enter service this year

- Puerto Rico will increase to daily

- New destinations: Washington in May, Fez and Ljubljana in August

- A350 to fly to LAX, as well as NRT for the Olympics

(...)

I find that encouraging connecting passengers to spend some time in Madrid makes perfect sense and will have a positive impact on the city. I find that many tourists stay within the coast, ignoring that there is more to Spain than just the Mediterranean beaches.

I hope Iberia goes back to JNB soon.

This looks like a great 2020 to come for Iberia. In relation to North America, could we see routes added to places like YYZ, YUL, and maybe a OneWorld hub like CLT?

Iberia is stepping back in growth, so don't expect any new destination in the foreseeable future.

Their growth this year is very (very) limited... they are adding Washington as the only long haul new destinations. San Francisco, launched 3 years ago, doesn't seem to do very well ... still on 3 weekly frequencies. They are increasing some frequencies, daily to Tokyo (olympics) and few others. BUT they are cutting back on frequencies to some latam destinations.

They have omitted IBs biggest plan... which is called Air Europa.

vinaixa wrote:

- The launch of "Hola Madrid Stopover". Similar to Icelandair's scheme, which would allow passengers to turn a short layover on Madrid into a lengthier stay of 1-7 days, with no increase in the ticket price

vinaixa wrote:

I find that encouraging connecting passengers to spend some time in Madrid makes perfect sense and will have a positive impact on the city. I find that many tourists stay within the coast, ignoring that there is more to Spain than just the Mediterranean beaches.

Agreed. In my opinion it's low hanging fruit to encourage connections by making doing so more attractive. Some carriers like Singapore Airlines do this really well. I'm surprised that more carriers don't do similarly.

vinaixa wrote:

- Two A320NEOs to enter service this year

Considering the number of old A320s that both Iberia and Iberia Express operate, I'm surprised that this figure is so low.

vinaixa wrote:

- New destinations: Washington in May, Fez and Ljubljana in August

- A350 to fly to LAX, as well as NRT for the Olympics

I'm still hoping for them to announce flights to Singapore or Hong Kong

zkojq wrote:

vinaixa wrote:

- New destinations: Washington in May, Fez and Ljubljana in August

- A350 to fly to LAX, as well as NRT for the Olympics

I'm still hoping for them to announce flights to Singapore or Hong Kong

Perhaps HKG more likely of the two given oneworld alliance?

Why would you expect Iberia to fly to HKG or SIN?

Its probability is close to 0.

smi0006 wrote:

Are you able to translate key points into English?
- New uniforms?
- New inflight service? Perhaps moving to the same provider as BA?

Anything else?

The first link is in English

Sounds like some good moves! Looking forward to seeing their new catering and uniforms.

tobsw wrote:

Why would you expect Iberia to fly to HKG or SIN?

Its probability is close to 0.

Im surprised IB can’t command some foothold in Asia at all. But HKG seems unlikely given the current environment, which is a shame as CX/QF feed would have helped.

The problem is Spain is very west, and south. So they can't get any meaningful connecting traffic to Asia (except Portugal and maybe Morocco). Even Spanish connecting traffic is complicated, since the ME3 fly to MAD, BCN, AGP (except Emirates) + Turkish flies to a few more cities.

To complicate things further, Spanish big companies have nothing in Asia. All their international market is in LATAM and USA and some in Middle East. But that's about it.

And finally, the cherry on the cake is that all this blah blah blah about IB making MAD a TRUE and competitive hub between Asia and LATAM *IF* they are allowed to get UX, is just loads of BS. KLM and Air France already do it, and I don't think there's space for another hub - plus, geographically, AF and KLM are way better located for European connecting traffic (they are able to get to smaller cities as well... you'll never see IB in a second or third tier UK, German, Scandinavian cities... - they barely can make it to FRA).

vinaixa wrote:

Translation of some of the 2020 plans:

- The launch of "Hola Madrid Stopover". Similar to Icelandair's scheme, which would allow passengers to turn a short layover on Madrid into a lengthier stay of 1-7 days, with no increase in the ticket price

.

Good move if they do it right it will be a win win for the city and IB.

Isn't Madrid generally cheaper for airlines versus the rest of Western Europe?

There are some fares filed for Asia to LatAm via MAD on CX from HKG to IB to LatAm. The fares are always outrageously expensive unlike AF via CDG and KL via AMS or BA via LHR or LH via FRA/MUC. Maybe they need more coordination with CX?

I remember the Hola Madrid stopover being offered years ago, before the merger with BA, so it’s not really new but a great add. I fly to Spain a lot and would gladly welcome the free stopover on my way back from the Canaries or even Barcelona.

tobsw wrote:

The problem is Spain is very west, and south. So they can't get any meaningful connecting traffic to Asia (except Portugal and maybe Morocco). Even Spanish connecting traffic is complicated, since the ME3 fly to MAD, BCN, AGP (except Emirates) + Turkish flies to a few more cities.

To complicate things further, Spanish big companies have nothing in Asia. All their international market is in LATAM and USA and some in Middle East. But that's about it.

And finally, the cherry on the cake is that all this blah blah blah about IB making MAD a TRUE and competitive hub between Asia and LATAM *IF* they are allowed to get UX, is just loads of BS. KLM and Air France already do it, and I don't think there's space for another hub - plus, geographically, AF and KLM are way better located for European connecting traffic (they are able to get to smaller cities as well... you'll never see IB in a second or third tier UK, German, Scandinavian cities... - they barely can make it to FRA).

You summed it up in a nutshell. IB's core strength has and will always be connecting Europe and Latin America. They will always be structurally weak to Asia. There's not much growth potential in the US either, the fact that they can't even sustain daily in SFO, one of the largest and wealthiest cities in America shows this.. IAD is a nice add but I can't see any other potential destinations.. Perhaps they could make more inroads into Africa but again there are structural deficiencies there as well compared to the other big European carriers.

CanadianRedneck wrote:

This looks like a great 2020 to come for Iberia. In relation to North America, could we see routes added to places like YYZ, YUL, and maybe a OneWorld hub like CLT?

CLT is served by AA.

I could see growing in HOU or YUL in North América but where I see a great potential is in Africa. Ib can deploy a much cheaper 321lr to most Africa where the likes of AF/LH need to use wide birds.

Ib and Mad could work as a real hub for Africa-Europe- America

Kadish wrote:

I could see growing in HOU or YUL in North América but where I see a great potential is in Africa. Ib can deploy a much cheaper 321lr to most Africa where the likes of AF/LH need to use wide birds.

Ib and Mad could work as a real hub for Africa-Europe- America

IB tried this and it didn’t work out.

The only Spanish speaking country in Sub Saharan Africa is Equatorial Guinea, which both IB and JK used to serve SSG. IB also for a short period served ACC, DSS and LOS (only DSS remains I believe). This was all done with a dedicated fleet of Airbus 319’s, with a dedicated fixed J cabin (the same planes ran to TLV). Unfortunately it didn’t last too long, and fares were expensive. All the 319’s were converted back to the Euro-Business Class format, and several aircraft are not being parted out.

Northern European (AF, BA, KL, LH, SN, for example) carriers have a better network and feed. Fares were cheaper, for example, when I used to travel from XRY to CPT or JNB the fare in J was €2K on BA and €3.5K with IB, via JNB. Besides this the quality of service on BA was significantly better, and still is compared to IB (IB service quality is continues to be atrocious for a “full service carrier”).

The exception to this is TP, which still has strong links to Africa, and works well as hub for the former Portuguese speaking colonies. IB does not have this benefit, it’s not just about location.

There may be potential, but IB does not have a good foothold in the continent and would have to do a LOT of work which may come to nothing.

tobsw wrote:

They have omitted IBs biggest plan... which is called Air Europa.

Is the deal still under review by the competition authorities? I hope they block it because IAG will basically corner the Spanish long haul market if the deal goes through.

AstanaMagic wrote:

Kadish wrote:

I could see growing in HOU or YUL in North América but where I see a great potential is in Africa. Ib can deploy a much cheaper 321lr to most Africa where the likes of AF/LH need to use wide birds.

Ib and Mad could work as a real hub for Africa-Europe- America

IB tried this and it didn’t work out.

The only Spanish speaking country in Sub Saharan Africa is Equatorial Guinea, which both IB and JK used to serve SSG. IB also for a short period served ACC, DSS and LOS (only DSS remains I believe). This was all done with a dedicated fleet of Airbus 319’s, with a dedicated fixed J cabin (the same planes ran to TLV). Unfortunately it didn’t last too long, and fares were expensive. All the 319’s were converted back to the Euro-Business Class format, and several aircraft are not being parted out.

Northern European (AF, BA, KL, LH, SN, for example) carriers have a better network and feed. Fares were cheaper, for example, when I used to travel from XRY to CPT or JNB the fare in J was €2K on BA and €3.5K with IB, via JNB. Besides this the quality of service on BA was significantly better, and still is compared to IB (IB service quality is continues to be atrocious for a “full service carrier”).

The exception to this is TP, which still has strong links to Africa, and works well as hub for the former Portuguese speaking colonies. IB does not have this benefit, it’s not just about location.

There may be potential, but IB does not have a good foothold in the continent and would have to do a LOT of work which may come to nothing.

I knew they tried N they failed but was years ago. IMO IB has improved a lot, product, service,ounctuallity...I spend 120 days per year travelling to Europe N America mainly un IB/UX/BA and I hace to say that BA/IB are pretty much the same.

Maybe they would have a chance...but Ib has always been very conservative.

When discussing Iberia I think that something is fundamentally missed when comparing it to TAP or other european carriers, under IAG there's a strong mandate on profitability and reaching a 15% ROIC target and that's basically why IB tends to be so conservative when it comes to expansion and isn't shy to cut routes that don't provide good results. If you remember in the early/pre-IAG days Iberia used to serve a bunch of destinations on West Africa (NKC,ACC,DKR,LOS,SSG...) and now from that list it just serves DSS and same goes for other geographies where destinations have been cut or reduced, GRU was x2 daily for years and DME year-around while now GRU is just 1 daily and DME is just served as seasonal.

Anyway I think at the moment Iberia got a bigger fish to fry which is to manage the upcoming takeover of Air Europa if it's finally approved, personally I think concessions will have to be made but it'll go through. Only an scenario where the governement strongly opposes the takeover would cause the EU authorities to block it on competition grounds like was the case of the Aer Lingus takeover by Ryanair years ago.

I think if the deal goes through we might see a bit more 'exotic' expansion as eliminating a competitor would allow IB to increase margins in their bread and butter southamerican routes and allow to 'cross-subsidize' lower margin/ break even routes to Africa and Asia.

Kadish wrote:

I knew they tried N they failed but was years ago. IMO IB has improved a lot, product, service,ounctuallity...I spend 120 days per year travelling to Europe N America mainly un IB/UX/BA and I hace to say that BA/IB are pretty much the same.

Maybe they would have a chance...but Ib has always been very conservative.

May 2016 is when IB stopped flying to LOS/ACC.

As a Life OW Emerald, IMHO BA and IB are the not the same. I agree service quality has deteriorated on BA but not to the extent that they are on par with IB. IB is in a league of their own.

I read some comments regarding how Conservative the company is, outside of Latin America. I noted this winter they operated a couple of charters to DWC (were they a success?) EK, QR and to a lesser extent EY have taken over the eastern connections, from my side I feel both IB/IAG have missed the boat... several years ago.

AstanaMagic wrote:

Kadish wrote:

I knew they tried N they failed but was years ago. IMO IB has improved a lot, product, service,ounctuallity...I spend 120 days per year travelling to Europe N America mainly un IB/UX/BA and I hace to say that BA/IB are pretty much the same.

Maybe they would have a chance...but Ib has always been very conservative.

May 2016 is when IB stopped flying to LOS/ACC.

As a Life OW Emerald, IMHO BA and IB are the not the same. I agree service quality has deteriorated on BA but not to the extent that they are on par with IB. IB is in a league of their own.

I read some comments regarding how Conservative the company is, outside of Latin America. I noted this winter they operated a couple of charters to DWC (were they a success?) EK, QR and to a lesser extent EY have taken over the eastern connections, from my side I feel both IB/IAG have missed the boat... several years ago.

Not sure but those chartes have to do with Rally París-Dakar in Saudí Arabia.

Kadish wrote:

Not sure but those chartes have to do with Rally París-Dakar in Saudí Arabia.

Not really, those charter flights are part of the Pullamntur Cruises / Royal Caribbean operation and were already operated last winter in the same way that during summer months IB flies to Athens, Bari or a handful of destinations in the Balti in order to feed cruises.

Like any other charter operation if they go full or half empty it doesn't matter to Iberia as they're just hired and paid to fly that route and the profit/loss burden is with the tour operator running those.

julianrv wrote:

Kadish wrote:

Not sure but those chartes have to do with Rally París-Dakar in Saudí Arabia.

Not really, those charter flights are part of the Pullamntur Cruises / Royal Caribbean operation and were already operated last winter in the same way that during summer months IB flies to Athens, Bari or a handful of destinations in the Balti in order to feed cruises.

Like any other charter operation if they go full or half empty it doesn't matter to Iberia as they're just hired and paid to fly that route and the profit/loss burden is with the tour operator running those.

Makes more sense...othewise they would have flown ti Yedda ir Riad.

julianrv wrote:

When discussing Iberia I think that something is fundamentally missed when comparing it to TAP or other european carriers, under IAG there's a strong mandate on profitability and reaching a 15% ROIC target and that's basically why IB tends to be so conservative when it comes to expansion and isn't shy to cut routes that don't provide good results. If you remember in the early/pre-IAG days Iberia used to serve a bunch of destinations on West Africa (NKC,ACC,DKR,LOS,SSG...) and now from that list it just serves DSS and same goes for other geographies where destinations have been cut or reduced, GRU was x2 daily for years and DME year-around while now GRU is just 1 daily and DME is just served as seasonal.

Anyway I think at the moment Iberia got a bigger fish to fry which is to manage the upcoming takeover of Air Europa if it's finally approved, personally I think concessions will have to be made but it'll go through. Only an scenario where the governement strongly opposes the takeover would cause the EU authorities to block it on competition grounds like was the case of the Aer Lingus takeover by Ryanair years ago.

I think if the deal goes through we might see a bit more 'exotic' expansion as eliminating a competitor would allow IB to increase margins in their bread and butter southamerican routes and allow to 'cross-subsidize' lower margin/ break even routes to Africa and Asia.

I don't think the outcome of a successful UX takeover (- concessions) will improve IB's network. IB has tried a few times Africa, but they've failed dramatically both time. Asia? Honestly, I don't see any meaningful growth... I could see maybe DEL/BOM, but that's about it. There's no points in flying MAD-SIN if 90% is connection pax...

I honestly believe that IB's biggest competitor: TAP.

Any thoughts on the "new and enhanced inflight services"?
I agree that their punctuality has improved. Service is still bad, especially the phone service. I fly in J class with them every year and for the first time I have started buying my IB tickets through BA rather than through IB.

himarhernandez wrote:

Any thoughts on the "new and enhanced inflight services"?
I agree that their punctuality has improved. Service is still bad, especially the phone service. I fly in J class with them every year and for the first time I have started buying my IB tickets through BA rather than through IB.

We don't know much about the new inflight service, we only know about the switch from Gate Gourmet to Do & Co...

there are many things that need to improve: all their crap website (+ App), IT needs a major revoluationary upgrade (not just a website makeup)... + if UX takeover get's approved, they need to sort out their brands in MAD.

My guesses for inflight services:
-In business class: New blankets and new business kits (already implemented, although contents are a downgrade from the L'Occitanie products that they had before)
-Economy: Will probably be downgrades on what they already offered dressed up as improvements.

himarhernandez wrote:

My guesses for inflight services:
-In business class: New blankets and new business kits (already implemented, although contents are a downgrade from the L'Occitanie products that they had before)
-Economy: Will probably be downgrades on what they already offered dressed up as improvements.

I’m surprised they have not come up with “Food from your local Hipercor” just to mirror BA’s Marks and Sparks in Y?

If the Business Kit looks cheap, then it is cheap. I flew KC last month to LHR-TSE-LHR and was handed a Radley amenity bag (https://www.radley.co.uk/).

From my own personal experience, and my biggest bug bear, IB need to sort out it’s ground services and flight crews. A former employer of mine said “People are our greatest asset”; IB ground/flight crews come across as unresponsive and rude.

As mentioned previously by other posters IAG need to seriously harmonize their IT systems across the various brands - BA, EI, IB, etc. It sucks when you have paid €3K to fly from DXB to XRY and you get directed to the IB website and cannot choose your J class seat MAD-XRY with a 125 ticket. Whilst this can be fixed by a phone call to IB, it’s not exactly convenient.

AstanaMagic wrote:

From my own personal experience, and my biggest bug bear, IB need to sort out it’s ground services and flight crews. A former employer of mine said “People are our greatest asset”; IB ground/flight crews come across as unresponsive and rude.

This is something it will take years to sort out. It´s basically a cultural heritage from the times IB was a state company. Newer staff, I think, are friendly and more pro-active; although I must say, if you speak Spanish, it helps a lot - but they mostly fly domestic and european flights.

tobsw wrote:

This is something it will take years to sort out. It´s basically a cultural heritage from the times IB was a state company. Newer staff, I think, are friendly and more pro-active; although I must say, if you speak Spanish, it helps a lot - but they mostly fly domestic and european flights.

I do speak Spanish (although I am not a native speaker). Let’s hope that it’s not considered ”Heritage” and something which MUST be preserved!!!

tobsw wrote:

AstanaMagic wrote:

From my own personal experience, and my biggest bug bear, IB need to sort out it’s ground services and flight crews. A former employer of mine said “People are our greatest asset”; IB ground/flight crews come across as unresponsive and rude.

This is something it will take years to sort out. It´s basically a cultural heritage from the times IB was a state company. Newer staff, I think, are friendly and more pro-active; although I must say, if you speak Spanish, it helps a lot - but they mostly fly domestic and european flights.

Completely agree on the Spanish. I was flying their J and am a midwestern looking white dude and was getting very aloof service from them. I flipped over to speaking Spanish with them (I wouldn’t call myself fluent but not far off) and suddenly they became relatively friendly (one word answers ceased at least).

That said, I think there’s an expectation gap from many Americans about good service, too. Spanish bartenders and waiters on the whole are not a smiley, chatty bunch. In my mind Iberia’s service fit in that same cultural vein where they were good at their job, they were happy to keep my wine topped up, but they weren’t acting like they were happy to be there or my friend.

tobsw wrote:

AstanaMagic wrote:

From my own personal experience, and my biggest bug bear, IB need to sort out it’s ground services and flight crews. A former employer of mine said “People are our greatest asset”; IB ground/flight crews come across as unresponsive and rude.

This is something it will take years to sort out. It´s basically a cultural heritage from the times IB was a state company. Newer staff, I think, are friendly and more pro-active; although I must say, if you speak Spanish, it helps a lot - but they mostly fly domestic and european flights.

As I said before I fly a lot with IB ( gold/oro card) and indeed was true that FA were not very friendly but since 6/8 years ago that has improved a lot...and from time to time I fly ( short distance) with my kids 3 N 5 and always been a pleasure, kind N nice to them or even take them for a " stroll" when conditions allow them.
Maybe Ive been lucky but this is what I percive every time I fly with them