Iberia cancels route between Madrid and Gibraltar

Iberia has suspended the route that it operates between Madrid-Barajas and Gilbraltar due to the fact that it did not meet forecasts made by the company when the route began in December 2006. The last flight between the Spanish capital and Gibraltar will take place on 28th September.

Sources speaking on behalf of Iberia have indicated that it is not yet known whether the company will operate flights on the same route at any point in the near future although they have said that any decision will be based on demand and the situation of the sector and will also take into account ‘recent fluctuations’ in the market. They said that Iberia had not been able to make this route profitable because there was not enough demand but that a definitive decision had not yet been taken.

The route between Madrid and Gibraltar which began in December 2006 was the first commercial flight to operate between Spain and Gibraltar as a result of a tripartite agreement between the Spanish and British governments and Gibraltar to use the existing airfield inside the territory belonging to Gibraltar.

In the face of the cancellation of the route operated by Iberia between the Spanish capital and Gibraltar the mayor of La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz), Juan Carlos Juárez, said that it was necessary to look for imaginative solutions so that the route did not disappear all together and asked the government of Gibraltar for its collaboration. Juárez said that he was sorry that a proper study into the demand for the route was not being carried out.

Juárez is in favour of other companies such as easyJet, taking over the route between Madrid and Gibraltar. Furthermore, he has asked for the route to be maintained until the current situation improves and insisted that the cancellation of flights on this route would be a disaster for everybody involved.