Iberia celebrates its 90 years of history

Iberia celebrates its 90 years of history
  • With an air show at Madrid’s Cuatro Vientos aerodrome, where its first commercial flight took off in 1927.
  • Historic aircraft from the collection of the Infante de Orleáns Foundation and the Spanish Air Force Patrulla Águila aerobatic team took part in the tribute to the Spanish airline.

 

Iberia marked the 90th anniversary of its founding with an air show at Madrid’s Cuatro Vientos aerodrome, where its first commercial flight took off for Barcelona en 1927.

 

Luis Gallego, Iberia’s Chairman and CEO, expressed his gratitude to everyone who made it possible for Iberia to reach its 90th birthday: “We celebrate our 90th anniversary with the security provided by experience and with the energy and excitement of starting anew every day. We have made it this far thanks to the work of our employees and the confidence of our customers and partners. Ninety years pass very quickly, and I am certain that with the efforts of all of us at Iberia and the support of our passengers, we will be able to celebrate another 90 years, at least!”.

 

Iberia, Compañía Aérea de Transporte, was founded on 28 June 1927. On 14 December the first commercial flight operated on the route Madrid/Barcelona. The aircraft was a 10-seat Rohrbach R-VIII Roland. The fare was 163 pesetas single and 300 pesetas return, and the flight took three and a half hours. Since its founding, Iberia has carried nearly 900 million passengers.

 

In 2016, industry monitor Flightstats ranked Iberia as the world’s most punctual airline, a position it maintained in four of the first five months of 2017.