Today, Iberia celebrates the 95th anniversary of its foundation, which took place on 28 June 1927, when a Madrid notary formalised the incorporation of a Limited Company under the name IBERIA, Compañía Aérea de Transportes, with the stated purpose of "establishing and exploiting peninsular and, mainly, international air traffic routes.”. The first president of the airline was a businessman from Getxo (Biscay), Horacio Echevarrieta, and Iberia began operations on 14 December, with flights between Barcelona and Madrid using three Rohrbach Roland planes.
95 Years Flying With the Same Purpose
Coinciding with its 95th anniversary, the airline sets out its mission in black and white: "From Spain, we generate prosperity by connecting people with the world," highlighting the significance of its contribution and social impact beyond the improvement of Spain’s connectivity.
In the two years since the outbreak of the pandemic, the airline has once again demonstrated its social commitment by carrying out more than 70 repatriation flights, more than 100 operations to bring medical supplies from China, and the delivery of more than 6 million vaccines, especially to the Canary and Balearic Islands; more recently, it has also shown its solidarity with Ukraine by carrying humanitarian cargo and facilitating the arrival of refugees.
€9,300M to Spanish GDP and more than 160,000 jobs
Additionally, the socioeconomic contribution of the Iberia Group was analysed by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in a report showing that the airline impacts Spanish GDP with over €9,300M (0.6%), through its own (direct) activity, payments to suppliers (indirect activity), and its induced activity on families linked to Iberia, and thanks to the over seven million tourists who use the airline to fly to Spain each year.
Translated into employment, more than 160,000 jobs in Spain (0.9%) are also directly or indirectly related to Iberia's activity, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers report.
7.1 million tourists; 53% of Madrid Airport passengers
Of the €9,300M that the Iberia group contributes to Spain’s GDP, PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates in its report that close to €2,600M are generated by the group's airlines, their suppliers and supply chains, and by its employees’ consumption.
The other €6,700M come from the spending of the 7.1 million international visitors and residents who travel to Spain with the Iberia Group each year.
The Iberia Group offers close to 150 destinations in 50 countries around the world and the flights operated by Iberia and Iberia Express accounted for 53% of the passengers at Madrid airport in 2019: 22 million customers, of which 7.1 million were domestic and foreign visitors to Spain who contributed more than €3,600M to the country’s GDP in the form of wages, taxes and gross operating surplus from tourism companies (direct impact), nearly €2,000M in spending and investments by companies in the tourism sector on domestic suppliers to meet tourists’ needs (indirect impact), and more than €1,100M in spending due to the jobs generated directly and indirectly by the arrival of these visitors (induced impact).
134,000 jobs linked to more than 7 million visitors
These 7.1 million visitors brought by the Iberia Group also have a multiplier effect on employment, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
134,000 jobs, of which nearly 86,000 are in the hotel, leisure, and retail sectors, more than 31,000 are derived from the spending by companies in the tourism sector on domestic suppliers to meet the needs of those 7.1 million visitors, and another 18,000 are generated by the spending of 117,000 direct and indirect workers.
In addition to these 134,000 jobs created by visitors traveling with the Iberia Group, there are more than 29,000 directly linked to the airline’s activity: more than 15,000 staff members, more than 6,000 suppliers, and about 7,800 workers who provide products and services to the previous 21,000.
In total, more than 160,000 jobs are directly or indirectly linked to the activity of the Iberia Group in Spain, which represents 0.9% of the country’s overall employment.
