Flying High in Spain

To U.S. airlines, harassed by passengers who fail to show up for reservations, Spain is an airline paradise. Iberia, the Spanish government's airline, has more passengers than it can handle. Almost every seat on every flight is filled; often the only way to wangle a ride is by a special letter of introduction to the pilot.

Last week Iberia proudly announced its gross for 1954: $12,500,000, an alltime record. With more planes gross income could have been twice as much. Said one Iberia executive: "It's just gotten too big for us. We have to refuse hundreds of people every day." Potholes & Safety Belts. The reason for Iberia's booming business is simply that flying is the best way to get around in Spain. By rail, the 312-mile trip to Barcelona from Madrid takes all day, costs $9.50 on a rattletrap train. Highway travel is just as bad--over narrow, potholed, mountainous roads. But in one of Iberia's 32 British and American planes (mostly Douglas DC-3s and DC-4s) the Barcelona trip takes less than two hours, costs only $11.50.

The line has grown so fast that it has little time or inclination for the frills U.S. airlines use to tempt passengers.

The planes that fly its routes to six Spanish cities and to 28 others stretching across four continents are plainly decorated, sometimes even dirty. Often on domestic runs, Iberia has no stewardesses.

"The Spanish temperament defies authority," said one resigned official. "We used to have a flight attendant check the seat belts, but our passengers were infuriated. Now we just leave them alone."

Across the Atlantic. Iberia has not always flown in such balmy weather. Starting in 1927 with four noisy, German-made, trimotor planes, it made not a single peseta until 1946. After several reorganizations, the original airline went under, after serving the Loyalist cause during the Spanish civil war. Its successor was started in 1937 by Franco, who needed a transport service, and asked Germany's Lufthansa for help. But in World War II, when Britain and the U.S. warned Spain to cancel its agreement with Germany or lose its gasoline supplies, Franco nationalized the company, has since bought up the stock from private investors.

Today, under President Jesus Rubio Paz, who started as a pilot in 1937, Iberia is beginning to expand into the transatlantic market. Last August the line inaugurated its first U.S.-Madrid flight with three nonstop Lockheed Super-Constellations, bought entirely with its own profits. Says President Paz, whose three new Super-Connies are named the Pinta, Nina, and Santa Maria, after Columbus' tiny fleet: "Our crossings will build a sort of aerial bridge, subtle and invisible, on the common ground of friendship."

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