Iberia has announced a new batch of routes, including new destinations which will be operated by the state-of-the-art Airbus A321XLR aircraft.
Throughout 2025, the extra-long-range version of the popular A321 model will be deployed on services connecting Madrid-Barajas (MAD) to San Juan de Puerto Rico (SJU) and two destinations in northeastern Brazil, Fortaleza (FOR) and Recife (REC).
While Recife and Fortaleza are new destinations for Iberia, the Spanish airline already operates an A330 nonstop service to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico.
Starting on October 28, 2025, a new daily A321XLR service will supplement the existing air links between Iberia’s Madrid hub and San Juan de Puerto Rico, bringing the total number of frequencies operated by the Spanish flag carrier to eleven per week during the 2025/26 Winter season.
If nothing changes, at the time of its launch the flight between Madrid and San Juan service is expected to become the longest operated by the A321XLR anywhere in the world, at slightly over nine hours’ flight time.
The new services to Recife and Fortaleza will launch on December 13, 2025, and January 19, 2026, respectively, and will also be operated by A321XLR aircraft, fitted with 182 seats (14 in Business and 168 in Economy Class). Both routes will see a thrice-weekly frequency at first, which will be augmented to five and four per week in February 2026, respectively.
These flights will represent a significant addition of capacity on the Spain to Brazil market. What is more, they will also allow passengers traveling to and from northern Brazil to avoid backtracking through the country’s main international hubs in southern Brazil, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
As of March 2025, Iberia operates two daily flights to Sao Paulo-Guarulhos (GRU) and five weekly services to Rio de Janeiro Galeão (GIG).
The launch of these two Brazilian destinations is subject to the A321XLR being approved by the Brazilian aviation authority in the coming months.
The Orlando service in turn will debut on October 26, 2025, and will be operated four times per week with Airbus A330-300 aircraft fitted with 254 seats (29 Business, 21 Premium Economy and 242 Economy Class seats).
Iberia became the launch operator of the A321XLR in November 2024, with an initial service to Boston-Logan (BOS). This will soon be followed by A321XLR services to Washington-Dulles (IAD) the moment Iberia received the second aircraft of the type.
The Spanish carrier expects the second and third A321XLR aircraft to be delivered by Airbus before the end of the first quarter of 2025.
These aircraft are part of an order that International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of Iberia, placed in 2019 for 14 A321XLR aircraft plus 14 options. Of these, in principle eight units are to be allocated to Iberia and the remaining six to Aer Lingus, which is also part of the group.
