President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica handed Iberia a special award “in recognition of the pioneering airline in opening the European tourist market to Costa Rica”, in the words of the Costa Rica Institute of Tourism. Silvia Cairo, the Spanish airline’s international sales manager, accepted the award during the opening ceremonies of Costa Rica’s 25th annual Expotur tourism marketing fair.

Iberia has flown to Costa Rica since June, 1973, and in recent years has operated a daily direct flight from Madrid. In 2008 it carried a total of 190,000 passengers on the route, a 21% increase in the year. In 2009 capacity on the route will exceed 215,000 seats.

Some 55% of Iberia’s Costa Rica-bound passengers come from European countries other than Spain, reflecting the Spanish airline’s importance in connecting the Central American country to Europe, where Iberia serves 42 destinations.

In order of importance, the countries with the most passengers using the Madrid-San Jose route were France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. All posted increases in 2008, the largest being in France (54%), Italy (45%) and Germany (42%). The number of Turkish passengers on the route tripled, while those from Russia grew by 155%, those from Austria by 65%, and those originating in Portugal by 57%.

Iberia was recently chosen as the best airline in the first edition of the annual awards instituted by the prestigious magazine Conde Nast Traveler, and visitors to the travel website muchoviaje.com voted it the best airline of 2007.

Today, Iberia is Spain’s leading airline and also market leader on flights between Europe and Latin America. In 2008 it posted operating income of more than 5.45 billion euros and net earnings of 32 million, with an Ebitdar of 500 million. Iberia is also distinguished by its social, corporate, and environmental policies. Along with its franchise partner Iberia Regional, it operates some 1,000 flights every day to about 100 destinations. In 2008 Iberia carried 28.5 million passengers. It is a member of the oneworld airline alliance along with American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, JAL, LAN, Malev, Qantas and Royal Jordanian.