Iberia

[lbaspotter]

Oh here we go. Yet another airline on the Manchester to Madrid route

Iberia have just announced a new route from Manchester to Madrid. They join both low cost airlines Ryanair.com and Easyjet.com on the route. British Airways will also carry a codeshare on the new service.
Flights will operate on a daily basis and commence from October 31st 2011. All flights will be operated by Air Nostrum using CRJ1000 aircraft.

15:45 Madrid - 17:05 Manchester = IB8502
17:35 Manchester - 20:55 Madrid = IB8503

 

[Aviador]

Oh here we go. Yet another airline on the Manchester to Madrid route

It's a bit like buses, you have none then two come along at once. The new Iberia service will open up the South American connections.

 

[User0001]

Iberia having yet another go at Manchester next year:

IB3692 MAD 1135 MAN 1305
IB3693 MAN 1350 MAD 1710

Tue/Wed/Fri/Sat

A320 to be used this time.

Starts Sept 2015, and fully bookable online.

 

[thunderchild]

Reported elsewhere that this flight will now only operate x2 weekly Tue/Sat - with only Ryanair competing on this route now and the amount of onward connections on offer I'm surprised that IB still seem to be struggling to make this one work.

 

[Aviador]

I don't know what it is about Madrid but the route really struggles from the UK regions.

 

[User001]

It's 2 weekly for the winter season and will be back to 4 weekly from April. It's also 3 weekly up until December.

Madrid has always been a weird route. It's a nice touristic spot, a large residential city, plenty of businesses based, the airport itself has some of the best connections to South America of any European city, yet, as you say, Iberia just cannot seem to get it right.

Ryanair are going up to 8 weekly on some dates this winter, so, obviously they have found the right niche, but, I have lost count on how many formats Iberia have tried at MAN.

Then again, maybe if they stopped trying to compete with the competition by launching flights with near identical flight times to said competition, and maybe if they ran a morning flight to connect onto the long haul network, the results may be different. But instead, we have to make do with these half arsed efforts until they pull the flight again, then sit there scratching their heads wondering why it didn't work.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I don't know what it is about Madrid but the route really struggles from the UK regions.

And yet a small airport like Bristol (compared with MAN) seems to fare consistently with MAD. Since easyJet began the route in 2004 the annual passenger numbers have stood up well, although there was a slight dip over the main years of the recession.

The annual passenger totals from 2005 (the first full year of the route) onwards have been:

85K; 84K; 86K; 81K; 74K; 70K; 73K; 74K; 77K; 79K.

 

[User001]

Ryanair to be fair to them have been consistent (which is unusual for a Ryanair route). Their MAN-MAD has run continuously since they returned to MAN after their infamous spat, and the route has increased from the original 4 weekly to now 8 weekly, and murmurs of 10 weekly next summer.

Iberia have proposed a time change for next summer at MAN, with 4 weekly flights. This should help them as the Ryanair flights are early afternoon and late evening.

 

[andyc941]

Some Celebrations of the new Iberia Express flights from Madrid this evening.

Thank you Danny Nixon‎ for the photo from FB.

 

[User001]

Iberia Express will increase to daily flights from March 27th.

The other good news is that Ryanair have shifted their flights to the morning, meaning the timings are less competitive and offer a better choice to customers, with Iberia being the afternoon/evening.

 

[User001]

Iberia Express will increase from 2 to 4 weekly this winter.

Flights will be on Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun, with evening arrivals on Tue/Thu/Sat and a morning flight on Sunday's.

Great news!

 

[ethanegcc]

Iberia Express will increase from 2 to 4 weekly this winter.

Flights will be on Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun, with evening arrivals on Tue/Thu/Sat and a morning flight on Sunday's.

Great news!

Superb news and very good to see a long-awaited morning departure! Madrid is a beautiful city and I would recommend anyone to visit!

The new schedule of the morning flight:

IB 3692 MAD 0900 MAN 1040 320 7
IB 3693 MAN 1115 MAD 1445 320 7

 

[Dobbo]

Great stuff - I mentioned MAD (I think/hope!) in the rumour threat a week or so ago!

 

[Scottie Dog]

Iberia Express increase from 3 to 4 per week to Madrid for Summer 2019 using an A320.

 

[jfy1999]

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[Jerry]

I'm quite surprised that Iberia mainline doesn't serve Manchester at least daily!

 

[Scottie Dog]

Winter 2019 see an increase from two to three per week to Madrid.

 

[lfc84]

October to Madrid is currently not on sale. Is the route getting pulled at the end of September?

 

[mullion]

I think so the conversation has been going on for several months.

 

[Scottie Dog]

At the present time, as far as I'm aware, the service has been cancelled for the summer season at least.