IBERIA ! IB ! IBE

AG has today confirmed the firm order of eight of Airbus’ eco-efficient A330 Family aircraft for Iberia’s fleet following the preliminary Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier this year. The A330 will be Iberia’s only twin engine wide body aircraft, and will fit perfectly into its existing Airbus fleet, given the unique commonality between the Airbus’ short haul and long haul family of aircraft. General Electric (GE CF6-80E1) engines have been selected to power the A330

Spanish operator Iberia is getting ready to start a retrofit program for 17 Airbus A340-600s next year, which is scheduled to start in mid-October 2012 at its Madrid maintenance facility.

Each aircraft will take about four weeks to complete, says Eugenia Nieto de Antonio, the engineering project manager for cabin interiors and IFE upgrades at Iberia. The airline plans to complete all of the modifications in-house at its Madrid maintenance facility.

“They are currently in the same status that they were in the time of the delivery of the aircraft, so this will be their big modification,” says Nieto, who adds that the average age of the fleet is about four years. Iberia will retire its A340-300 fleet when new A330-300s begin to arrive in 2015, but the A340-600s will stay in service at least until those deliveries start rolling in.

“The cabin will be completely different in image,” says Nieto. The only thing that will remain is the concept of the two-class cabin.” The aircraft will have a business-class and a standard economy cabin, although the total number of business-class seats will rise from 42 to 46 after the modification. New lighting, seats and an upgraded inflight entertainment (IFE) system will be part of the retrofit.

Iberia has opted for the Weber 5751 model in economy class, but it will use Sogerma seats for business class. These fully flat seats are 77 in. long when completely extended. Economy seats will have an IFE screen in each seatback. Iberia plans to update the Panasonic 3000i system on the A340-600s and is targeting the Panasonic eX2 IFE system as a replacement.

International Airlines Group (IAG), the British Airways and Iberia parent, will make a cash tender offer for the outstanding share in low-cost carrier Vueling in the first quarter of next year.

It values the Barcelona-based company at €7 ($9) a share or a total of €113.3 million.

An application for authorisation of the offer, along with the prospectus and other legal documents, will be submitted within the next month to Spain's market regulator, the Comisión Nacional del Mercardo de Valores, and subject to its approval, the offer will be launched to Vueling's shareholders in the first quarter of 2013.

If accepted, the deal is expected to complete in the second quarter of next year. The transaction is not subject to regulatory approval by the European Commission, says IAG, although does not provide further details.

The group has created Veloz Holdco SLU to undertake transaction and will launch the offer exclusively on the Spanish stock market. This means IAG's subsidiary Iberia will retain its 45.85% shareholding in Vueling with IAG seeking to acquire the remaining 54.15%.

IAG says it will fund the deal through internal resources.

"With its leading position in Barcelona, European growth strategy and low-cost base, Vueling has much to offer IAG. It has significantly increased capacity while remaining profitable, despite the Spanish economic slowdown, and already has extensive commercial arrangements with Iberia," says IAG chief executive Willie Walsh.

"This would be good news for Vueling as there are many advantages for the airline in this deal. It will benefit from the financial strength of a larger airline group, making it better able to compete with other airlines and invest in new customer products and services. The airline will also be able to generate some cost and revenue synergies as part of IAG mainly through joint financing and procurement."

Vueling will be managed as a separate operating company with its chief executive reporting directly to IAG's chief executive.

At 30 September 2012, Vueling's total assets amounted €805 million. It operates 57 Airbus A320-family aircraft and recently unveiled major expansion plans for next summer which will see it add 28 new destinations from its Barcelona El Prat base

Spanish operator Iberia this year will take five new Airbus
A330-300s, one more than initially scheduled for 2013, as it seeks to
achieve targets set by parent International Airlines Group (IAG) to
reduce operating costs and improve revenues.
Under the plan, a further three A330s will be delivered in 2014.
IAG in July 2011 firmed the order for eight General Electric CF6-80E1-powered A330-300s. The deal also included eight options.
The
A330s will replace part of Iberia’s fleet of A340-300/600s. “The
A330-300s have a 15% lower fuel compared to the A340-300s. The -300s
were a great aircraft when we purchased them, but the high kerosene
prices have made it very expensive to operate them,” Jaime Garcia
Blazquez, manager of Corporate Responsibility and Environment at Iberia
tells Aviation Week. He adds that the objective to further reduce carbon
emissions also played a role in expediting the replacement process.
Aviation
has been included in the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU
ETS) since Jan. 1, 2012 and a “Stop the Clock” procedure proposed by the
European Commission in November has excluded extra-European flights
from the scheme until after the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) General Assembly in the fall.
The EU will reinstate the full scope of the aviation ETS if ICAO does not establish a global market based mechanism.
Iberia
will take delivery of its first new A330 at the end of January, and the
aircraft will feature the airline’s new business- and economy-class
design. The airline has decided against fitting the new widebodies with
an intermediate cabin “because we believe we can accommodate the needs
of our market with a business cabin with seats that unfold into
completely horizontal beds and 2.2 meters [7.2 ft.] of space between
rows and a good economy class with personal inflight entertainment,”
Garcia Blazquez says. “We do not have large premium market as in
London.”
Iberia’s A340-600s also will be fitted with the new cabins.

On board, passengers will enjoy Iberia’s brand new Business and
Economy class sections for long haul flights. With a configuration of 36
seats in the Business cabin and 242 in the Economy class, the Business
Plus section in the new A330s features wider seats that unfold into
perfectly flat beds almost 80 inches long, housed in individual modules,
each of them with direct access to the aisle. The design and
positioning of the new seats ensure greater privacy and comfort to
passengers. Lighting in the Business class cabin changes at the
different phases of the flight and the seats offer more space for
customers’ belongings.

Business Plus passengers can also enjoy new, intuitive entertainment
options, using 15.5” screens similar to that of tablet computers, plus
4.2” touch screen remotes with virtual keyboard, with which passengers
can make telephone calls, send text messages, and easily access
entertainment options. Each month some 50 feature films will be
available, plus 80 TV series, documentaries, some 200 musical options,
and 3D games, among many other choices.

In the Economy cabin, seats are more ergonomic and wider (18.1”).
They are equipped with the most advanced inflight entertainment system:
individual 9” touch screens, a wide film and TV series offer,
documentaries, as well as a children’s programme. Every seat has a
connection port for Apple devices and a USB port, while universal power sockets are also available.

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh hails Iberia as the group's "star performer" in the third quarter, with the Spanish carrier having reduced labour costs and generated an improved operating profit.
While that €162 million ($204 million) operating profit had been "anticipated on the back of the restructuring" programme under way, it was "great to see [the] underlying financial performance of Iberia being as strong as it is", Walsh told analysts today.