TAM, Atlas Blue, and Turkish Airlines to be served by Iberia’s ground handling unit
Iberia has signed new handling contracts with Atlas Blue, TAM, and Turkish Airlines, whereby it will provide services to their passengers and aircraft at the Madrid and Barcelona airports.
Iberia is to provide ramp services to TAM aircraft at Madrid-Barajas airport. TAM is a Brazilian carrier founded in 1961 that operates scheduled services to destinations in North and South America and in Europe. In December, it launched a daily flight between São Paulo and Madrid, flying Airbus A-330s on the route.
As of February 1st, Iberia is also supplying passenger handling services to the Moroccan airline Atlas Blue at Barcelona’s El Prat airport. The Marrakech-based airline operates both charter and scheduled flights to European destinations, using six Boeing B-737s. It plans it enlarge the fleet to 24 aircraft by 2012.
Lastly, as of February 16th, Iberia will provide passenger handling services to Turkish Airlines also at the Barcelona airport. The company is Turkey’s flag-carrier and boasts a fleet of 100 aircraft. It currently operates a daily flight between Barcelona and Istanbul, using Airbus A-320s.
Iberia Handling is Spain’s largest handling operator, serving clients at some 41 airports. Its fleet of 11,000 ground vehicles is the largest of any company in Spain, and it has a staff of 9,000 people. In 2007 the unit served 220 airlines, nearly 87 million passengers, and 450,000 aircraft.
Today, Iberia is Spain’s leading airline and also leader on routes linking Europe with Latin America. It posted an operating income of about 5.4 billion euros, net earnings of 116.1 million euros and an Ebitdar of 790.5 million euros in 2006. It is also distinguished by its commitment to socially and environmentally responsible conduct. Along with its franchise partner Iberia Regional, Iberia operates some 1,000 flights each day to about 100 different destinations. Last year, Iberia carried a total of 33 million passengers. It is a member of the oneworld airline alliance, along with American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, JAL, LAN, Malev, Qantas and Royal Jordanian.
