At the beginning of the summer season of 2017, the Iberia Group is adding new destinations, as well as more capacity on some long-haul routes, while changing the operational model on others.

On March 26th, Iberia will launch Madrid-Basel flights every day except Thursday, making the city the Spanish airline’s third destination in Switzerland.

The Basel airport is also used by travellers living in southern Germany and north-eastern France.

Iberia will offer nearly 60,000 seats on this route in 2017.

Iberia Express will launch routes to Cardiff in Wales and to Cagliari in Sardinia, which it will operate during the summer months.

On long-haul routes, Iberia is raising the number of available seats between Madrid and Quito by 22 per cent, flying six times a week with its largest aircraft, the A340-600.

It will also raise capacity to Medellin, flying non-stop to/from Madrid three times a week, while continuing to reach Guayaquil and Cali via code-shares with other airlines.

Iberia will also strengthen its offer in Puerto Rico.

On March 27th, the Spanish airline will resume its flights between Madrid and San Juan with three frequencies every week on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays, for a total offer of more than 52,500 seats, an increase of nearly 31 per cent compared to the summer season in 2016.

On the Madrid-Buenos Aires route, Iberia will maintain twice-daily service throughout the year, increasing capacity by 16.3 per cent.

The airline is considering adding three weekly flights to Mexico City, where it already flies twice a day.

The airline will also add capacity in some of the destinations served during the summer months.

In Dubrovnik, it will grow by 25 per cent and in Zagreb by 54 per cent.

On its Madrid-Budapest flights, Iberia will increase its offer by 27 per cent, while it will increase its capacity in Catania and Funchal by 38 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.

Cork, Edinburgh, Keflavik, Oslo, St. Petersburg and Santorini will return to the Iberia Group network during the summer months.

Iberia will also fly to Shanghai, Tokyo, and Johannesburg, all destinations added this year.