Today is the 30th anniversary of the launch of Iberia`s Puente Aereo (Air Bridge) the Spanish airline`s pioneering walk-on shuttle service between Madrid and Barcelona…
Today is the 30th anniversary of the launch of Iberia`s Puente Aereo (Air Bridge) the Spanish airline`s pioneering walk-on shuttle service between Madrid and Barcelona. The route has Iberia`s best punctuality record, and has been used by a total of 45 million walk-on passengers and another 9 million holding reservations. Under normal circumstances, all seats are taken on these flights. In 2003, 2.8 million passengers were carried on the nearly 16,000 Iberia flights between the two cities, of which the walk-on shuttle accounted for 1.77 million. The shuttle logged its highest punctuality rating -91.7%- since 1995.
In 1974 passenger demand was concentrated at certain hours of the day, and many passengers failed to use their reservations. Iberia`s response was to launch the shuttle, on which passengers had no seat reservations but merely boarded flights on a first-come first-serve basis.
The first flights left Barcelona at 7:30 a.m. and Madrid at 8:00 a.m. The daily total of seats offered numbered 3,200, on 13 hourly flights, which could be increased by another four when demand was high. The fare was 1,961 pesetas (11.79 euros). In the first 15 days of the service, 490 flights were completed. Total seat supply reached 51,741 by the end of that year, and 36,234 seats were filled. Punctuality reached 97%.
Today, the Puente Aereo, which is managed apart from other Iberia flight services, completes up to 90 flights per day, offering nearly 15,000 seats each weekday, usually in Boeing B-757s. The flight takes 55 minutes. Peak flying times are from 7:00-9:00 a.m. and from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.
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