Iberia’s commercial director for Latin America, Marina Colunga, explains that the firm’s plan in Chile is to continue increasing the number of flights per week between Madrid and Santiago, and to expand what is offered onboard.
Iberia in Chile is maintaining its expansion roadmap amid industry concerns about rising oil prices and the effects on its operations.
Marina Colunga, the Spanish airline’s commercial director for Latin America, explained to Pulso that the goal is to expand the number of weekly flights between Santiago and Madrid, a city that also serves as a gateway to Europe.
In addition, the plan includes strengthening the services offered. During her visit to Chile for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Wings of Change event, which is taking place here in Santiago, she highlighted the operation’s performance to date and its growth opportunities.
The airline plans to end the year with 420,000 seats on the Santiago-Madrid route, and increase the number of weekly flights between the Chilean and Spanish capitals from 12 to 13 for the summer in Chile.
«It’s a huge financial investment we’re making as part of Iberia’s expansion in Latin America,» the executive says.
The company reported that demand grew by 8% between 2024 and 2025. They also revealed that 7% of Iberia’s air capacity in the Latin America region is destined for Chile.
«There is a growing appetite among Chileans and all those who begin their flight in Chile, whether to Spain or to any of the destinations we connect with in Europe,» she explains.
Colunga also points out that demand for this route is also due to «Europeans and Spaniards who are coming to Chile, not only to Santiago, but to other destinations within the country.»
«We have an alliance with LATAM Airlines, which helps us connect with domestic destinations and also with some destinations in Argentina,» she adds.
In addition to flight frequencies and demand, Iberia also emphasizes the three different categories that it offers: tourist, premium economy and business.
«It’s a long flight and, because it’s a long flight, it has a significant number of premium cabins,» Colunga explains.
«We have worked across departments to enhance the customer experience, starting with the food and beverages offered, and we are taking short but steady steps,» she says. She also highlights a new alliance to implement Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service in the Iberia fleet.
For the Madrid-Santiago route, Iberia is also aiming to segment its customers.
«We have seen that there is accelerated growth in the corporate segment. Chilean enterprises that are doing business in Europe and Spain have grown steadily. The same applies to luxury or leisure tourism mixed with business,» she identifies.
Another profile of passenger is those who travel to visit relatives of Latin American origin now living in Spain or in other parts of Europe, and vice versa.
«The profile of people is different from what it was 60 years ago, when this route began,» she says. Postgraduate students in Europe are also among those identified by the airline.
Regarding the plan to continue growing the route, which Iberia says currently has the necessary demand, Colunga points out that a key requirement is that flights carried out by these large planes have the occupancy to make the route viable.
Iberia’s global average occupancy rate was close to 90% in 2025. For the route to Chile, they use one of their largest aircraft: the Airbus A350, with a capacity of almost 300 people. In Chile, the airline has a commercial presence to build relationships with travel agencies.
Iberia has said that it is monitoring the effects of the war in the Middle East, which, at the time of the conversation with Pulso, was in the middle of a truce.
The firm reports no problems in the case of Latin America and its routes, due to the distance to the conflict zone.
Colunga explains that they continue to move forward with their expansion plans in the region, but are paying attention to what happens in the Middle East.
«We continue to invest in the growth of our network. We opened in Caracas (Venezuela), and we are opening in Newark (New Jersey, United States) and Monterrey (Mexico). We are continuing with our network growth plan,» she emphasizes.
Regarding ticket prices, Iberia says that its model includes raising the final price of tickets under certain conditions, but that this current situation, in which oil prices have skyrocketed, does not yet warrant the company increasing the value of the service.
«At this time, we are not making adjustments, and we are seeing that demand continues (…) Europe is far enough away from the current conflict zones, and we see that there is an appetite to continue traveling. As such, we have a plan to continue as normal,» she emphasizes, pointing to Iberia’s hedging positions regarding the price of crude oil.
Along those lines, Colunga comments that there would have to be changes if the conflict in the Middle East escalates in “another direction”. For the airline sector in general, the biggest impact has been the price of oil, which reached almost US$120 per barrel after hovering around US$70 before the start of the war.
«We are not anticipating any changes, or passing that cost on to passengers,» Colunga says.
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