The Spanish carrier Iberia is celebrating two milestones this week. On one end, Iberia Maintenance, the company’s MRO, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of completing the first C1 Check on an Airbus aircraft. On the other side, the airline has reached six consecutive months as the most punctual operator throughout Europe.
A maintenance milestone
Iberia is celebrating the 30th anniversary of performing maintenance services on its Airbus A320 family this year. During these three decades, Iberia Maintenance has performed 4,000 heavy checks, including C-checks, and six and 12 years of inspections of the A320 family aircraft.
Currently, Iberia has 68 Airbus A320-family aircraft and Iberia Express has 24. Nonetheless, the heavy checks done over the last 30 years include aircraft from the IAG Group, composed of British Airways, Vueling, Air Lingus, and Level. Jorge Michalowski, Airframe Services Director at Iberia Maintenance, said,
“In 1992, Iberia Maintenance performed the first C-Check on an A320 family aircraft. And it was the first A320 received by Iberia called Sierra de Cazorla. At that time, and little by little, we set out on a path to position ourselves as a major maintenance service provider for the A320 family, which was possible thanks to the Iberia Maintenance team. We will continue the journey as we strive to be a European Reference Center for the major maintenance of the A320 family.”
Iberia – the most punctual airline in Europe
Last month, Cirium crowned Iberia as the most punctual airline in Europe for six months in a row. In October, almost 87% of its flights arrived on time, which put Iberia among the six most punctual airlines worldwide.
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According to data by Cirium, 86.89% of Iberia’s flights, out of a total of 13,530, arrived on time at their destinations. This percentage is an increase of almost three percentage points compared to September (84).
Javier Sánchez-Prieto, Iberia’s president, said, "after a challenging summer, where we faced many difficulties, we still managed to offer the best standards of punctuality. We continue working to maintain these good results so that customers feel that they are at the center of our commitment. Punctuality is the greatest achievement of Iberia’s staff, a team that rows together and in the same direction.”
Other punctual airlines worldwide
Iberia is the sixth most punctual airline worldwide. According to Cirium, the top five is composed of All Nippon Airways (ANA), with a 91.40% on-time arrival; Japan Airlines, with 89.49% punctuality rate; Azul, 88.94%; Delta Air Lines, 88.38%; and United Airlines, 87.59%.
Other airlines in the top ten, after Iberia, are Aeromexico, 85.43%; American Airlines, 84.73%; Qatar Airways, 83.075; and Avianca, 82.29%. In Europe, the most on-time airlines after Iberia are ITA Airways, 85.97%; Finnair, 85.71%; Norwegian, 84.81%; and Air Europa, 84.11%.
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