Q & A with Silvia Cairo, Iberia’s International Sales Manager

Central America is stirring great interest among both tourists and businesspeople in Europe, so Iberia, the Spanish airline, decided to create a new hub in the region back in 2004 and the effort is certainly paying off. Right now, the carrier holds a 50 percent share of that market. In other words, one out of two passengers traveling from Europe to Central America is flying Iberia.

Iberia has no doubt discovered a promising future in the Central American region and is determined to put the smart money on it. The company’s immediate plans include making two to three daily flights to Costa Rica, get its big break in Guatemala and Panama, and serve the rest of the region from these nations.

Q.- How do you assess Iberia’s expectations for the Central American region so as to ratchet up the number of flights?
A.- There are great expectations for this region and we’re all cashing in on them and trying to max out air traffic out of Europe towards that part of the world.

Q.- How much has demand for this region risen?
A.- In the case of Iberia, demand climbed up 22 percent in 2006. As to 2007, it’s yet too soon to make any forecasts or assessments. However, increases in the first two months –January and February- have been significant.

Q.- In terms of the tourists Iberia is flying to Central America, where are they mostly coming from?
A.- Basically they come from France, Italy, Germany and UK. These are the four largest outbound markets. But we shouldn’t forget Switzerland, a small nation that makes a great contribution.

Q.- The increase in the number of flights to Central America is sort of taking up the slack left by the departure of Air Madrid from the aviation scene. Is there any other ax to grind here or does it have anything to do with past rifts between Iberia and that air company?
A.- Not at all. Iberia’s dedication to Europe and Latin America has been longstanding for years. We were even putting good numbers on the cardboard long before that ill-fated problem with Air Madrid. I must also say that our market scope and Air Madrid’s former niches were completely different. Air Madrid was a no-frills carrier focused on local traffic, while Iberia zeroes in on Europe and it plans to keep the lead in that market.

Q.- Is Iberia’s growth in Latin America also including the Caribbean?
A.- It does include the Caribbean. The problem is that the Caribbean demand is not as high as the one in Central America. But make no mistakes about it; both Latin America and the Caribbean are top-priority targets for Iberia.

Q.- Does the fact that several charter companies have stopped flying to Cuba mean that Iberia might add just one more flight to the island nation?
A.- There’re no such plans for this year. Nevertheless, the Airbus 340-600 is a very resilient jetliner that could perfectly pitch us a hand if we needed to jack up the number of flights to that particular market.