Spanish airline Iberia to reduce the size of its fleet due to COVID-19 outbreak

As coronavirus continues to spread rapidly, the Spanish airline Iberia’s chief executive officer said that the company will reduce the size of its fleet, the number of destinations it flies to and the number of flights. While speaking to a local Spanish media outlet, Luis Gallego said that Iberia, which is a part of International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG.L), wants to extend a temporary layoff scheme of workers until December. 

Gallego said that the airlines will be smaller, however, it will exist. While calling the layoff ‘unfortunate’, the CEO said that Iberia will have fewer planes, fewer flights and fewer destinations. He further added that the new plan of making the airlines ‘smaller’ comes with the capacity adapted to the demand. 

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Amid the unprecedented coronavirus lockdown, Gallego informed that the Madrid-based airlines have been losing seven million euros per day. He reportedly said that Iberia will withdraw 17 Airbus A340-600 planes from its fleet. He also noted that the demand in the airline industry was not expected to return to 2019 levels until 2023 or 2024. 

The coronavirus outbreak has not just affected the economy but it has also tipped the airline industry into its biggest ever crisis. Back in May, Iberia and Vueling also reportedly secured one billion euros of government-backed loans in a bid to cope with the fallout. However, as travel restrictions continue to be in place in several countries, Iberia decided to downsize the company. 

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Spain opens borders to European regions 

Meanwhile, Spain will reportedly open its border to countries which are not part of the Schengen area from July 1. Earlier this month, the country also opened its borders to 25 countries in the European regions Schengen area. Borders with neighbouring Portugal would, however, open on July 1, as scheduled earlier. 

The European country started easing down border restriction in May. Previously, the Spanish government had said that it would allow foreign visitors inside the country without undergoing self-quarantine for 14 days. However, the rule would not be applied to the Balearic Islands, an archipelago on the east of the mainland. Currently, as per Johns Hopkins University tally, Spain has nearly 248,469 confirmed coronavirus cases and the deadly virus has claimed more than 28,000 lives in the country.

(Image: @MarcRoset/Twitter) 

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