IBERIA’s long-awaited codesharing deal with British Airways
starts this summer – a year after it was due to be launched.
The Spanish flag carrier is to take seats on BA’s domestic
routes and on regional services to Madrid and Barcelona.
In return BA takes seats on Iberia’s Spanish mainland and island
domestic services. Co-operation starts on June 17.
Initial codesharing will be on BA’s Heathrow and Gatwick flights
to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Belfast and Aberdeen; from
Birmingham to Madrid and Barcelona; and between Edinburgh and
Madrid.
On Iberia, the deal covers flights from Madrid to Jerez,
Zaragoza, Santiago de Compostela, Ibiza and Granada. Ibiza and
Jerez services from Barcelona are also covered. Flights to Tenerife
and Las Palmas will be included later in 1999.
The major omissions from the deal are the core UK-Spain routes
from Heathrow and Gatwick to Madrid and Barcelona.
This decision follows BA’s policy of leaving routes out of
codeshare agreements which may incur investigation by competition
regulators.
BA said its long-haul routes will come into the Iberia agreement
later in the year. These include services from Heathrow to Oslo,
Bangkok and Singapore.
The UK airline and its Oneworld partners were keen to join with
Iberia as it offersan extensive network to South
Americandestinations.
These are expected to come into the BA alliance in the future
when Iberia joins Oneworld in September.CAPTION: Iberia: the
Spanish carrier is to take seats on BA’s domestic routes and on
regional services to Madrid and Barcelona