Iberia eyes the low-cost market

Spanish airline Iberia plans to offer low cost, no-frills tickets on some of its routes, Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo reported on Sunday. A source at the firm would not comment on the report on Sunday but confirmed Iberia was working on a strategic plan. Traditional airlines face increasing competition from budget airlines such as easyJet, which cut costs on nonessentials such as on-board catering. El Mundo, without citing sources, said the firm would offer no frills fares mainly on routes between Britain and Spain, not only to fight off existing competition, but with other leading Spanish airlines also planning to join the no-frills sector. The paper said the airline had still not decided whether to have low cost customers on the same flight as regular fee passengers or to run separate budget flights. Iberia, which is going through a patch of uneasy industrial relations as pilots have made allegations over airline safety, posted a 19 percent rise in nine month core earnings at the end of October. Full nine month results are expected to be published on November 14.