Iberia orders eight A330s plus eight options

By Cathy Buyck | March 8, 2011

Iberia, which merged with British Airways into International Airlines Group in January (ATW Daily News, Jan. 24), said it reached agreement with Airbus to order eight A330-300s with options for eight more. Separately, Airbus announced the signing of an MOU with IB for the acquisition of eight A330-300s but did not identify it as firm order or mention a further eight options. The manufacturer did not provide a delivery date, but IB said they will occurbetween fall 2012 and spring 2014, and are earmarked to replace “up to 16 A340 family aircraft.” IB's widebody fleet consists of 18 A340-300s and 17 A340-600s. Engine selection was not announced.

“The A330 is an excellent aircraft, both in terms of comfort and operational performance, and it will be a welcome addition to Iberia’s fleet. It also provides us with considerable cost benefits due to its lower fuel consumption and commonality with Iberia’s existing long-haul aircraft,” IAG CEO Willie Walsh said in a statement. With the new aircraft and options, “IAG will have the flexibility to determine the overall size of Iberia’s long haul-fleet and capacity in the future,” it added.

Discuss this news 9

07 Mar20:43

They should have taken B-777s

By Anonymous

They should have taken B-777s to replace the A-340s which they should never have ordered. OPEC is the only organization that could love an A-340.

08 Mar03:49

The A333 fits better in

By Chris Vidal

The A333 fits better in Iberia's fleet for cockpit commonality and easy cross-training reasons.
Plus it has superb economics for the Iberia routes (some of them medium-range), better than the 777.

08 Mar03:52

Nothing against B777,

By Anonymous

Nothing against B777, nevertheless, as IB has been using Airbus for long haul flight operations, there is a logic to replace A340 by A330 ( lower costs for crew training, technicians training) in comparison with B777

08 Mar10:02

They are probably building on

By Richard

They are probably building on crew commonality advantages, and possibly availability dates?
In any case, it is an open secret many of these European airlines lean towards Airbus... except for Air France / KLM and BA to some extent. Only LH and BA have been knocking on Boeing's door for years of the bigger legacy airlines.

08 Mar11:36

The A-330 is far more

By Anonymous

The A-330 is far more efficinet that the777 for the routes that Iberia is planing to use them.
And 95 other airlines agree with them.

08 Mar14:13

The A-333 is efficient for a

By Anonymous

The A-333 is efficient for a handful of routes to Northamerica, but most of the long haul flights that IB is operating now are to Latinamerica by far, which is beyond the range of the A-333 with many high altitude airports.

With the A-343 IB has the flexibility to operate ALL current routes with a single aircraft type and the only viable choice to replace them is or was the 777 or the 787 with more commonality and fleet simplification with partner BA.

Weird IB is planning to replace all A-343 with a less capable aircraft.

08 Mar15:28

IB has grown its A346 fleet

By civet five

IB has grown its A346 fleet substantially over the years and has been upgauging routes. Plus, its only 8 frames. In their current schedule, they fly ORD, JFK 2x, MIA 2x and BOS. 2 frames could also go to BCN expansion and to expand their African ops. That's it.

08 Mar16:03

A-343 and A 330 is the same

By Anonymous

A-343 and A 330 is the same family with the same type rating.
For the longer thinner routes it can use A 340s and for the thicker ones A 340 600s.
They are very happy with their Airbus long haul fleet and in the long run the A 350 will be the likelier replacement of the A330s and 40s.

08 Mar17:21

Many routes on the US east

By Jason

Many routes on the US east coast, Brazil, Caracas, Bogota, Panama etc are well within the range of the A333 from Madrid. This plane will much more efficient then the A340-300 plying most of these routes and definitely more efficient than the 777.
Iberia seems to go the way so many other airlines have done when equipment for routes up to 5.000 miles are being considered.