Cape Town - Iberia has resumed its flights to Johannesburg on Tuesday with a sold out flight after suspending the route four years ago.
"This will be the only non-stop flight between South Africa and Spain," the airline said in a statement.
Iberia returned to South Africa as a renewed airline, more efficient, with new aircraft, new long-haul cabins, and new services.
To link Johannesburg and Madrid it will fly its new twin-engine A330-300s.
Starting today, the Spanish airline is flying three times a week between the two cities.
The re-launch of the Madrid-Johannesburg led Iberia to stage a number of actions to promote South Africa in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, and also to introduce the new Iberia to potential customers in South Africa.
“With our flight from Johannesburg to Madrid, we will be strengthening economic and cultural ties between South Africa and Spain, while also promoting European tourism to South Africa," said Iberia’s chief commercial officer Marco Sansavini.
"Meanwhile, our South African customers can come to Madrid and avail themselves of the good connections to all our Spanish, European, and American destinations.”
In addition, Iberia and Comair have signed a code-share agreement.
It will cover such destinations as Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Durban in South Africa, Windhoek in Namibia, and Victoria Falls and Harare in Zimbabwe, via Johannesburg.
Via Madrid, passengers from South Africa will find good connections to Iberia’s 30 additional destinations in Spain, including Barcelona, Bilbao, Seville, and Malaga; 58 European cities including London, Lisbon, Porto, Milan, Rome, Frankfurt, and Geneva; Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York in the United States, and 20 Latin American destinations, such as Havana, Santo Domingo, Mexico City, and Panama City.