Iberia
Iberia operated roughly 22 Boeing 747s — -100s, -200s, -300s and two -400s — between 1970 and 2006, using them on its Madrid-based transatlantic and Latin American network.
Iberia was one of the earliest 747 operators in Europe, taking its first aircraft in October 1970 — barely nine months after the type entered service. It flew the 747 for 36 years, retiring its last example in 2006.
A fleet of all four classics
The airline operated roughly 22 jumbos across every classic variant: a handful of 747-100s, the bulk as 747-200s including a Combi, four leased 747-300s, and finally two leased 747-400s. Only about eight of the 22 were ever owned outright; the rest were leased, many from Air Atlanta Icelandic, which is a reminder of how the 747 could be brought into a fleet without the capital cost of buying one.
The 747s served Madrid’s transatlantic and Latin American routes — New York, Buenos Aires, Miami and Mexico City among them — the long, thin sectors where a large aircraft with a big premium cabin made sense.
Named after writers
Every Iberia 747 carried the name of a Spanish literary figure, a convention the airline applied across the type. The first was Cervantes. It was an Iberia 747 that carried Picasso’s Guernica back to Spain from New York in 1981, a homecoming for the painting after decades abroad.
The end
The last two Iberia 747s, both leased -400s, left the fleet around July 2006. Iberia replaced them with the Airbus A340 and A330 on the same routes. No Iberia 747 was lost in an accident, and none was preserved.
Related
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the primary and institutional references below.
- What happened to Iberia's Boeing 747s? — Simple Flying
- Historic aircraft — Boeing B-747 — Iberia
- Iberia — Wikipedia
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