IBERIA has announced
that, come September
1, it will no longer fly its
Madrid-Johannesburg route.
According to the airline, the
route, launched in August
2016, is no longer profitable.
The announcement was
made giving four months’
notice, which, says
Consuelo Arias Hernández,
Iberia’s head of External
Communications, was done to
give customers and partners
enough time to make
alternative arrangements.
Iberia says it will offer
passengers the option of
rerouting or a refund for
tickets already purchased.
Consuelo says agents must
follow Iberia’s booking
policies to change the ticket
and then call the airline’s
Trade Call Centre before
issuing or refunding the
ticket.
David Pegg, md of Sure
Viva Travels, says while the
news is disappointing, the
notice period given is helpful
for agents to make alternative
plans. However, David is also
concerned that rerouting via
Heathrow will incur extra cost
in transit visas.
Chrissa Karanastasis of
The Travel Concierge agrees
that it is a pity, particularly
for passengers boarding
Mediterranean cruises. “In
the last 18 months, I have
had a lot of requests for a
more direct service to the
port of departure.” Because
of this, Chrissa has sold a
lot of Iberia, as it offered
seamless connections to
Barcelona. She is concerned
about the timing of the
announcement, at the start of
the European summer. Both
she and David say they will
likely continue to book Iberia
until the cancellation date.
While David says the threetimes weekly service was not
always convenient, Chrissa
found this worked well,
working around this by adding
on an extra night or two in the
port city for her clients. David,
however, says: “If an airline
wants to commit, three times
weekly is not enough.”
David is also concerned
about the loss of Iberia’s
extended network. He
found Iberia to be a good
option for connections to
Havana and other Central
American connections.
Agents canvassed say viable
alternatives include any
Gulf carrier, Turkish Airlines
and Alitalia. Alitalia upped
frequency between Rome and
Johannesburg to five a week,
effective April 2.
