In this context, Travel2latam spoke with Victor Moneo, Director of Alliances and Strategic Agreements at Iberia.
What is the responsibility of your job?
My job is to look at all the alliances we have with other airlines to be able to increase Iberia's flight network. That would be what we call alliances and the other part is the strategic agreements we have, for example, with the Community of Madrid, which is why we are here today. That is to say, strategic agreements in which we create a win-win situation, with a partner of ours, in this case the Community of Madrid and Iberia, we both have the same interests, which is the promotion of Madrid and the Community of Madrid through Iberia in this case.
If we have already moved to the US, particularly Miami, are there agreements, for example?
In the case of the USA and for the entire North Atlantic, our main partner is American Airlines, with whom we have a very close relationship, so that with American Airlines we reach the main cities. Iberia flies to eight cities within the USA and from there it is American Airlines that serves the rest of the destinations in its capillary network.
Are you thinking of opening new destinations or is the policy today to increase what you have?
At the moment we are significantly increasing our flight offering to the destinations we currently fly to. In some cases, those eight destinations we mentioned, in other cases, we are looking to increase the number of frequencies, the aircraft module or even if we only flew in summer, we are looking to extend the operation to the whole year.
In Latin America, which destinations do you consider to be the most important? Are you opening new destinations?
In the case of Latin America, we are growing a lot. We fly to 18 destinations in 16 countries and with a very significant number of frequencies. Some destinations, such as Mexico, already have three daily frequencies, as does Bogotá, and Buenos Aires will add a third daily frequency in the coming months. But we have also greatly increased our offer to Peru, Ecuador, Chile and all of Central America. Therefore, the entire Latin American region is experiencing a very significant increase in Iberia flights.
What is the process of defining a new destination?
It depends on the destinations of the target audience that we are able to consider as having the potential to get on the plane. What we do is that our strategy is, first, to see if there is enough critical mass, with the help of a partner. Secondly, if we decide to put the flight on, because we are looking for three weekly flights. Later we increase our offer to daily. And then, in several places like Miami we have two daily flights, American's would be number three.