Iberia condemns budget airline subsidies

Airline Industry Information, Jan 26, 2005

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

Iberia's chairman Fernando Conte has said that high fuel prices and unfair competition from loss-making airlines posed the biggest challenges to the Spanish carrier this year.

Iberia management estimates that incentives from local governments keen to attract low-cost airlines to their regions amounted to aid worth between EUR10 and EUR17 per ticket, according to the daily newspaper El Pais.

Conte did not comment on a report that Iberia was considering closing some routes because of competition from low-cost airlines. El Pais reported that several Iberia routes out of Barcelona, in the northeastern region of Catalonia, would be halted because Ryanair flies to numerous destinations from its Catalan bases at Reus and Girona.

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