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Back in November, Iberia announced that it had plans to launch two new routes between Madrid and the United States from April 2022. The new routes were to serve Dallas and Washington D.C. but at the time of the original announcement no schedule information was provided and no firm start dates were offered up either. Today, that changed.
Iberia’s two new US routes
Washington D.C.
Iberia last offered a service between Madrid and Washington D.C.back in 2010 so as this route hasn’t operated for over a decade, I think it’s probably OK to give the airline a pass when it calls this a new route. It won’t, however, be a route that launches in April as originally announced.
Iberia’s route to Washington D.C will launch on 1 June 2022 and at the time of writing, this is the planned schedule:
IB6131 MAD 12:10 – 15:15 IAD (Mon, Wed, Thu & Sat)
IB6132 IAD 16:45 – 06:30+1 day MAD (Mon, Wed, Thu & Sat)
The schedules show the route being operated by a combination of A330-200 and A330-300 aircraft through 29 October 2022 and there has been no indication from Iberia to suggest that the route will be renewed for the winter season.
Dallas
As with the route to Washington D.C., Iberia will not launch its service to Dallas in April as was originally announced and, instead, will start serving Dallas from 1 June 2022.
The new Madrid – Dallas route will operate 4x/week and will operate in conjunction with the daily service that American Airlines already operates between the two cities. Here’s the schedule that Iberia has filed:
IB6146 MAD 15:55 – 19:50 DFW (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sat)
IB6147 DFW 21:25 – 14:20+1 day MAD (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sat)
The schedules show the route being operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft through 29 October 2022 and as is the case with the route to DC, there has been no indication from Iberia to suggest that the route will be renewed for the winter season.
With Iberia and American Airlines being part of the same transatlantic joint venture (as well as both being members of the oneworld alliance), this route is clearly being introduced to feed more traffic from Europe into American’s hub at Dallas/Fort Worth from where the US carrier will take over and distribute flyers across the country.
Iberia returns to San Francisco
Iberia first introduced its seasonal route between Madrid and San Francisco back in 2018 and the route returned in 2019. The pandemic ensured that the service was suspended for 2020 and 2021 but it’s now set to return for 2022.
Iberia will offer a 3x/week service between Madrid and San Franciso from 1 June 2022 and the route will be operated on a very similar schedule to the one that we last saw back in 2019:
IB6193 MAD 12:20 – 16:15 SFO (Mon, Wed & Fri)
IB6174 SFO 17:50 – 14:10+1 day MAD (Mon, Wed & Fri)
As was the case when this route operated in 2019, Iberia will fly its A330-200 aircraft between Madrid and San Francisco and the route will be closed down for the winter season.
Business Class awards are available
At the time of writing, Business Class awards (for one passenger) appear to be quite easy to find on all three routes mentioned above so because Iberia charges considerably lower surcharges than British Airways (especially when it comes to departures from the US) and because its award charts can be a lot more forgiving too, these routes can offer a good path to getting good value out of any Avios you may have.
San Francisco – Madrid Business Class roundtrip travel:
Off-peak: 102,000 Avios + approx $300 in surcharges
Peak: 150,000 Avios + approx $300 in surcharges
Washington D.C – Madrid Business Class roundtrip travel:
Off-peak: 68,000 Avios + approx $275 in surcharges
Peak: 100,000 Avios + approx $275 in surcharges
Dallas – Madrid Business Class roundtrip travel:
Off-peak: 85,000 Avios + approx $300 in surcharges*
Peak: 125,000 Avios + approx $300 in surcharges*
*The surcharges on this route are an estimate as at the time of writing, the Iberia website is claiming that the surcharges are almost $1,500 which, as far as I’m aware, is nonsense.
Bottom line
Iberia has now published the schedules for its new routes from Madrid to Dallas and Washington D.C. and confirmed that contrary to the original announcement, these routes will launch at the beginning of June.
The airline has also confirmed that it will be bringing back its summer season route to San Francisco from 1 June 2022.
Business Class awards are currently available for all three routes and represent a nice opportunity to get good value out of any Avios or AAdvantage Miles that you may have burning a hole in your pocket 🙂
