Iberia's new Airbus 330 arrives in Chicago

The new Iberia A330 aircraft has operated today its first flight from Madrid to Chicago. It took off from Madrid T4 at 11:50 and arrived in Chicago airport at 14:10, where it got a water salute. Then, it flew back from Chicago to Madrid at 16:40 hours.

“On behalf of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, we congratulate Iberia on the newest member of its fleet”, said Commissioner Rosemarie S. Andolino of the Chicago Department of Aviation. “Passengers flying between Chicago and Madrid will appreciate greater space and more amenities on the Airbus 330 during their flights.”

Passengers flying from Chicago will enjoy now Iberia’s brand new Business and Tourist class sections for long haul flights. With a configuration of 36 seats in the Business cabin and 242 in the Economy class, the Business Plus section in the new A330s features wider seats that unfold into perfectly flat beds almost 80 inches long, housed in individual modules, each of them with direct access to the aisle. The design and positioning of the new seats ensure greater privacy and comfort to passengers. Lighting in the Business class cabin changes at the different phases of the flight and the seats offer more space for customers’ belongings.

The new Business class seat includes new, intuitive entertainment options, using 15.5” screens with access each month to some 50 feature films, plus 80 TV series, documentaries, some 200 musical options, and 3D games, among many other choices.

In the Economy cabin, seats are more ergonomic and wider. They are equipped with the most advanced inflight entertainment system: individual 9” touch screens, a wide film and TV series offer, documentaries, as well as a children’s programme. Every seat has a connection port for Apple devices and a USB port, while universal power sockets are also available.

Iberia will soon be adding Wi-Fi Internet access and SMS capability for all its long-haul customers. The Airbus A330s is a twin-engine aircraft and is 15% more fuel efficient than the aircraft it replaces.

The new A330 already flies to Boston, Miami and New York, and it will regularly operate the Chicago-Madrid route from next October.

Iberia celebrates this year its 15th anniversary in Chicago. It started operations September 1st 1998 and it currently serves a daily flight between Chicago and Madrid. From Madrid airport T4 Iberia customers can make easy connections to another 32 Spanish destinations, 37 cities in Europe, as well as 13 destinations in Africa and the Middle East. T4 was recently voted the world’s third best air terminal in the most recent survey by the prestigious air travel market consultancy Skytrax – a total of 12.1 million passengers in 395 airports around the world took part in the survey -.

Iberia carried 954,000 passengers between the U.S. and Spain in 2012, 4% more than in the previous year. In 2013, Iberia will offer nearly 1.15 million seats in this market. Iberia is part of the Joint Business Agreement of North Atlantic routes with American Airlines, British Airways and Finnair