What do Iberia use?

Yes member “paulc” is right that Iberia will phase out their B757´s.
This was maybe first mentioned in interviews with Iberia managers in 2000 or 2001 when asked about the future shape of the IB-fleet.

Sad to hear it because I like to see B757´s in IB-colours…

Ironically there was a interview with a manager at Iberia in May 2004 or so and at this interview the manager said that Iberia plans to operate their MD-80´s “for at least another ten years”. This personally thrilled me (look at my username:-)) and there were rumours that Iberia could take all five MD-88´s of Onur Air (one was leased from 2003 until 2005) to finally expand their MD-80-fleet to 42 aircraft with (in MD-80-terms) young airframes (all examples for Onur Air were manufactured in 1997).

The B757 is surely a very good aircraft in it´s category but Iberia wants to standardize on the A321 in this capacity-range.

Thank you 🙂

Iberia’s 757 will be phased out in the next year or so which is why they are looking a bit faded paint wise. The 747-400 are used mainly on routes to the Canary Islands rather than long haul as they use A340’s 300 & 600’s on these as central / south american routes do not need the capacity.

A very intersting and informative read- cheers!

Yes, you are right that Iberia has a varied fleet but the plan was clear and currently the “real” fleet includes “only” A319/320/321, A340, B747/757 and MD-80. For some time Iberia had also A300`s, B727´s and DC-9´s and DC-10´s operating alongside newer aircraft.

The B747 is on it´s way out and in this shape Iberia has a far more streamlined fleet than Air France or Lufthansa.

I think it was and it is sometimes the fleetplanning of each airline that culminates in such fleets. Some airlines were once very cautious about operating a vey streamlined fleet such as SAS (DC-9/MD-80/B767 at one time) or Finnair (DC-9/MD-80/MD-11).

The original official plan of Iberia for their MD-80 was to combine the MD-87 and MD-88-fleets together and to transfer them to purely domestic routes. The MD-87 was intended to replace the remaining DC-9´s operated by Aviaco.

Reality showed that the MD-87/-88 that they were used domestically but also very much internationally.

Personally I like it to see different types of aircraft logically building up a fleet.

Everbody will tell me that a common fleet will reduce costs but there are some airlines who ar claiming that a particular aircraft is sometimes better suited for a specific spectrum and it makes sense to operate a different type.

Look at (sadly defunct) Swissair: they once operated a very varied fleet when they flew Fokker 100, MD-81, A310, MD-11 and B747-300. This was a intended mix…

Flying five types while being a relatively small airline may not be the best solution but generally we can say that they used the right and best suited aircraft for each of the categories.

This does not mean that only the Fokker 100 is the best 100-seater etc. but maybe for Swissair and I believe that the Fokker 100 is better suited for shorthaul-work than the B737-600 etc…
Swissair wanted to operate the Fokker 100 (far more cheaper) by Crossair but this was not possible. Crossair introduced BAe146´s on their own and Swissair reduced their Fokker 100-order by eliminating the options. On the other hand this explains why Swissair never ordered the MD-87 like Austrian Airlines. Swissair wanted to operate such a type much more cheaper by cheaper pilots but never could manage to arrange to operate a shorter MD-87 with cheaper pilots than the pilots flying the bigger MD-81.
Swissair officially claimed that the MD-87 is not really suitable for european routes and to heavy. The reality showed that most MD-87´s went to european carriers (for example Austrian, Finnair, Iberia, Aero Lloyd, Transwede, CTA) and most A319´s are heavier than MD-87´s.

At Iberia the fleet was partly also shaped due to financial problems. On the one hand there was demand for more flights but Iberia was from time to time not allowed to buy or order new aircraft in the mid-90ties.
This was part of financial help given by the EU.
So Iberia was only able to expand through leased aircraft such as more B757 and B737´s from Air Europa, even TriStars etc. and they re-introduced their A300´s in 1995 after phasing them out in 1994 or so.

The situation improved and in 1998 Iberia laid out a plan in which until 2003 most parts of the fleet are renewed with all B727´s, DC-10´s, DC-9´s and A300´s being replaced.

It´s interesting to see numbers offered by IATA etc. about the typical opeating-costs of aircraft and there you can see that a MD-80 is not really muac more expensive to operate than a A320 etc..

But it´s clear to see there that the B737-800 is far more economical than the A320 (and logically the MD-80) but my opinion is that most aircraft-types can be operated economically but the airline must be willing and in the situation to operate them economically. The Fokker 100 is very often claimed as very efficient but American Airlines phased them out very quickly partly because the pilots were simply to expensive to operate this rather small aircraft.

So at American Airlines the smallest aircraft is the MD-80 and any smaller aircraft would encounter problems.

And it´s clear to see that there are airlines with very modern fleets who were much more successful in the past than currently and it´s to simple to claim this always to the difficult situation after 9/11.
Many airlines bought fleets because they wanted and not because they needed.

Some airlines switched within a few years from Boeing to Airbus vice versa.
Manufacturers are selling aircraft to airlines who are not financially in the situation to buy aircraft and then the manufacturers are getting nervous.

For me it´s sometimes very strange to see the steps taken by airlines and this is topped by new liveries which are simply horrible and sometimes could be used for totally different things (like aftershave or sweets) and are no longer associated with an Airline. At some airlines the logo is only 25% visible and the viewer has to imagine the rest.

I am half german/half japanese and the best example of a horrible livery (for me) is JAL, The well-known “Tsuru” (crane) is no longer, replaced ba a boring partly-sun. I just can not understand what improvment is visible.

Oh god, this is another topic 🙂

Thank you vey much!

I flew MAD-LIS-MAD last June with Iberia; they operate a real mixed bag of a/c. I managed to get a trip on a 757 and an MD-88. I spotted the following at Madrid: MD87/MD88/A320/321/B757/A340-300/A340-600/B747-200/B747-300. They have since brought their A319s back from Miami and added B747-400s(op by AAI/ex-SIA). Imagine if they still operated the A300s and DC10s..IB would probably win the prize for most varied fleet.

Hmmm…….

Wow, talk about reviving a thread!

Regarding Iberia´s MD-80-fleet it´s difficult to get information about their future. Officially all 37 MD-87/-88´s will be phased out but but on the other hand there are rumours that Ibeia could use their MD-80´s otherwise for their services. Most MD-80´s a Ibeia are owned and five MD-87´s are on operating-leases and these five MD-87´s will leased by Spanair from Iberia.

Right now Ibera is the biggest user of MD-87´s in the world and the biggest operator of the MD-88 outside USA.
All MD-80´s at Iberia are relatively young airframes because Iberia was a relatively late costumer of the MD-80 ordering 17 MD-87 (later 7 more) in December 1987 for delivery in 1990/91. The MD-88´s were originally flown by Aviaco and were inherited from September 1999.

Iberia was for some time interested in the B717 but never ordered one. Aviaco in fact was named in the mid-90ties as a potential costumer for the MD-95 (B717) as a replacement for their DC-9´s.

Ibeia was once a very loyal costumer of McDonnell Douglas and was always happy with the products. In fact Iberia was the first airline in europe to put the DC-9-30 into service in mid-1967 and the DC-9 flew until 2001!

It´s interesting to see that the MD-87 offers more space for each passenger than Iberia´s A139/320/321.
The capacity of the MD-88 was reduced from the 155 seats offered by Aviaco to 150 seats (same as the A320 at Iberia), whereas the MD-87 is configured for 109 passengers each.

It would hav been “normal” at Iberia regarding their traditional thinking to operate the MD-80 for a much longer time than officially claimed after ordering more Airbusses and for the first time the A318.

The MD-80 is no longer the quietest aircraft but the design and concept of McDonnell Douglas is often unterestimated. The MD-80 is very economical to operate and in the case of Iberia there are no costs of paying for them anymore.

The MD-80 is in all variants a derivative of the wonderful DC-9 and so the costs are much lower.

So many people don´t like to hear it but the A319 and much more the A318 are smaller derivates of the A320 with alle the negative effects. So the A318 is not very good for shorthaul-routes. The A318´s empty-weight is in fact much more than the empty weight of an MD-80!!!!

And the weight of an aircraft must be considered in the overall operating-costs.

So Iberia would be wise to see the potential of having nearly 40 MD-80´s that are very robust, reliable, economical to operate and some analysts claim that the MD-80 has the best structure of all aircraft in it´s class.
That could be right, simply because it´s a “Douglas”. There are more DC-8´s flying than early A300´s. Douglas-planes are well-known for their robustness and not Boeing or Airbus.

Thank you very much!

They use A320, MD87, MD88, A321, B757, A340, A319 and Dash8, ATR and CRJ. No old planes I am affraid. Only B747-200 will be soon phased out

http://www.worldaviation.com.au/airlines/iberia_fleet.asp

They still own 3 or 4 742s, and lease a couple of 743s from Air Atlanta

Originally posted by Ali
Hey Waspie.

Last year I took some snaps at the stand at Menorca, they had some DC10s there ready for scrap by the look of it, the windows were all taped up n stuff.

I will try and scan them and post them later. Not sure if they are still there.

Cheers,

Alex.

They retired the DC 10s, to fill in till the A340s they leased some B742s i think?

Hey Waspie.

Last year I took some snaps at the stand at Menorca, they had some DC10s there ready for scrap by the look of it, the windows were all taped up n stuff.

I will try and scan them and post them later. Not sure if they are still there.

Cheers,

Alex.

They use A320s, and MD 80s i think?