"For the willie walsh fans that like to cook books, its not the routes that ba had, its the routes that ba has developed and ib misteriously has stop doing even after being profitable."
I am not a "willie walsh fan" and I apologise if this point has already been made but you are aware that Iberia generate revenue from routes they don't fly, aren't you? As do BA?
What do you suppose is Iberia's highest revenue route? London - JFK. A route flown by BA but on which Iberia has a code share. Code shares, as I guess many have forgotten, means money.
IMVHO it is crazy to suggest that passengers are being diverted from Madrid into flying to South America (say Buenos Aires) via London. Only in the barely profitable lowest fare end of the market would a passenger decide to do this (fly from Madrid to Buenos Aires via London) unless Iberia is so uniquely awful that no high end paying passenger wants to fly with them.
Moreover, the London route was made possible only because of the Iberia code share.... from which Iberia generates revenue.
I think, even leaving aside Spain's rapidly deteriorating economic outlook, one of the problems for Iberia is that if some of your most profitable routes are routes that you don't even fly, then your cost base is almost certainly going to come into question.
IMVHO.
Last edited by OverFlare; 16th Nov 2012 at 08:18.