Iberia's Madrid-Valencia Route Turns 85

‍DALLAS — On July 27, 1939, Iberia (IB) operated the first Madrid-Valencia flight, starting one of the Spanish airline's most important routes.

At the start of the route, it was operated between two and three times a week; nowadays, IB, together with Air Nostrum (YW), operates this route more than 20 times a week, allowing Valencians and Spaniards from the Mediterranean coast to access to the 142 IB destinations operated from Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD).

The First Flight

Iberia started operating the route with a Junkers JU-52, a German plane with three engines and capacity to carry between 14 and 16 passengers with two pilots. This aircraft allowed IB to expand its route network and recover after the Spanish Civil War.

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The Junkers JU-52 had a cruise speed of 128 knots and a maximum height of 22.300 ft, which is slow and low for modern planes.

According to the JU-52's technical specifications, the flight from MAD to VLC would take approximately 1:30 hours; compared with modern planes, the flight took 50% more than the actual flight time. This comparison shows how aviation has improved in this area.

The Route in the Last Years

As mentioned at the start of the article, the flight between MAD and Valencia Airpor (VLC) is one of the most important routes on the domestic IB network. It was operated alone until 1995, when YW started operating the same route. Since 1998, YW and IB have operated this route under a code-sharing agreement.

In the last twenty years, the route has been operated with 11 different aircraft types; in this group, we can highlight some of IB most important planes, such as Boeing 757s, McDonnell Douglas MD-80s, and YW's Fokker 50s.

During the same period, IB and YW have offered 59,103 flights and 5,853,410 seats to connect both Spanish cities.

The Route Today

In 2024, YW and IB will offer three daily flights, which allow Valencians to connect with 148 destinations in 48 different countries with IB flights and 384 other destinations in 81 different countries thanks to agreements with IAG Group members and oneworld members.

For example, the Madrid-Valencia flights are usually operated in code-sharing together with American Airlines (AA), Qatar Airways (QR), Avianca (AV) and LATAM (LA), allowing passengers from anywhere in the world to connect with Valencia and vice versa.

On the VLC-MAD route, 78% of the passengers flying to MAD are going to take another flight. This percentage can be divided into three groups: 33% will connect with long-haul flights, 23% will connect with European flights, and 22% will go to Madrid to connect with a domestic flight.

Nowadays, the MAD-VLC is operated with a Bombardier CRJ-1000, a 100-seater regional jet, which allows IB to offer 109,600 seats in the same month.

To celebrate the 85th anniversary, IB and YW invited Airways to visit La Muñoza, IB's maintenance center at MAD. You can learn more by reading this article written during a previous visit.