Iberia’s newest plan, the “Placido Domingo” — named after the Spanish tenor — landed at O’Hare Airport from Madrid on June 22, 2019. It was about 13 minutes early, and welcomed with a water salute by Chicago’s airport firemen as it was the first time that the Spanish airline operates this route with the A350-900 in its fleet.

Chicago is the third city, after New York and Buenos Aires, where Iberia has introduced the A350-900, a state-of-the-art twin-engine aircraft with a range of 14,800 km and 25% more fuel efficient than similar planes. Some 70% of its structure consists of modern materials such as carbon fibre, fibre-glass, titanium and aluminium alloys.

It is currently the quietest aircraft on the market and it is equipped with a draft-ventilation system with ozone filters that renews the air inside the cabin every 2-3 minutes. The humidity level is also higher and makes the flight more comfortable for customers on board. Iberia’s A350-900 are equipped with three cabins: Business, Premium Economy and Economy. Iberia has already five aircraft A350-900 and will receive 15 additional planes of this type by 2021

Iberia launched its flights from Chicago to Madrid in 1998. It currently flies once a day between both cities. In 2019, it will offer more than 235,000 seats in this route, an increase of 4% compared to last year. Via Madrid, customers flying via Madrid can continue their trip to other 25 cities in Spain including Malaga, Santander and Valencia; 50 destinations in Europesuch as Athens, Nice, Budapest, Florence, Lisbon, Porto, Geneva or Zurich; as well as four cities in Africa including Marrakech and Tangiers.

Apart from Chicago, the Spanish airline flies from other US cities, such as Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco and San Juan de Puerto Rico. Iberia is part of the North American Joint Business Agreement on routes between Europe and North America with American Airlines, British Airways and Finnair.  Together, the four airlines offer their customers more travel choices: up to 134 departures a day linking 34 North American cities to 22 European cities. Among other benefits, customers can mix and match flights operated by any of the four carriers to get the best deals and enjoysmoother connections through coordinated schedules. Members of the airlines’ loyalty programmes have also more chances to earn and redeem miles, points or Avios.

Photo: Iberia’s A350-900 Placido Domingo (courtesy of Iberia Airlines)