Spanish carrier Iberia has exceeded its pre-pandemic movement statistic numbers for the second time in a row, as per data from RadarBox.com.
A trend is beginning to be observed, where the airline is continuing to operate more flights year-on-year.
Without further ado, let’s get into the numbers…
Iberia’s Numbers…
For April 18-25, Iberia handled 541 movements, based on a seven-day rolling average provided by the flight tracking company.
This represents an increase of 10.63% compared to the same period last year and is 100 movements higher than the same period in 2019.
Below is data representing the last four weeks’ worth of movements for the carrier:
| Date | 2019 Numbers | 2022 Numbers | 2023 Numbers | Percentage Difference (2023 vs. 2022) |
| March 21-27 | 372 movements | 466 movements | 513 movements | +10.09% |
| March 28-April 4 | 491 movements | 452 movements | 539 movements | +19.25% |
| April 4-11 | 481 movements | 567 movements | 520 movements | -8.20% |
| April 11-18 | 421 movements | 507 movements | 536 movements | +5.72% |
What we can see from the data is that Iberia is making strong gains compared to the same period last year as well as in 2019.
Numbers Set To Rise Further Over The Summer Season…
It remains clear that Iberia’s movement statistics are set to rise, especially following its announcement made back in March about its Air Shuttle service between Barcelona & Madrid.
Customers have the option to choose from 15 daily flights, with the airline saying that there will be take-offs every 30 minutes at peak times.
Times on the schedule see the first flight depart at 7 am and the last one at 9:30 pm.
In a statement, Iberia said the following about the successes experienced from the air shuttle service between Barcelona & Madrid:
“All in all, in the summer season, Iberia will increase its market share in the air segment between Madrid and Barcelona by 5 percentage points compared to the 2019 level, reaching 65%.”
Iberia achieved a good mix of corporate and connecting traffic on its Madrid-Barcelona route, which allowed it to increase frequencies and recover its pre-pandemic level.”
“In recent months, the load factor on these flights has been above 80%, a figure that is close to those recorded before the pandemic.”
“The Air Shuttle between Madrid and Barcelona is Iberia’s main domestic route. It is operated by a fleet mix that includes its new Airbus A320neo, with dedicated teams in Madrid and Barcelona.”
“All of this contributes to the route’s excellent punctuality rate, which in 2022 was 90.5% and so far this year stands at 91.3%.”
Overall…
It remains clear that Iberia is in a very strong position, and the peak periods of the Summer 2023 season will be the ultimate tester of that.
To have established and continued growth in a post-pandemic era is reflective of the number of people who want to go traveling within Spain.
All eyes will be on the carrier to see how much further they choose to take their capacity offerings.
