Spain's Iberia, British Airways in merger talks

Late last year British Airways backed away from a bid it had made with four private-equity firms for Iberia, Spain’s flag carrier, after Caja Madrid - a Spanish savings bank - bought a large defensive stake. On Tuesday July 29th, with the price of oil up 25% and BA and Iberia shares down 25% and 37% respectively, the two firms said they were in talks about an all-share merger. Both companies’ boards support the deal, as does Caja Madrid.

Iberia will bring it extra capacity at Madrid Barajas Airport, which has four runways, and fast-growing long-haul routes between Spain and Latin America.

As is customary in cross-border airline mergers, BA and Iberia will merge financially, but not operationally—at least in the immediate term.

Savings will come from combining back-office activities and from joint purchasing of aircraft, fuel and ground services. Joint purchasing of aircraft, potentially the biggest source of savings, may take some time.

Madrid Barajas International Airport

Madrid Barajas International Airport (IATA: MAD, ICAO: LEMD) is the main international airport in Spain. Opened in 1928, the airport has grown to be one of the most important aviation centers of all Europe.  It is also worth noting that Barajas is the name of the town in the immediate vicinity to the airport, with its own metro station on the same line serving Barajas airport.

Barajas serves as the gateway to the Iberian peninsula from the rest of Europe and the World, particularly Latin America.  In 2007, more than 52 million passengers used Barajas; it ranks as the world's 10th—and Europe's fourth—busiest airport and the biggest one by terminal area in the world.  Barajas is the primary hub and maintenance base for Iberia Airlines.  Consequently, Iberia is responsible for more than 60 percent of Barajas' traffic.

If you want to check your flight information you can visit Baraja's English website.

Customer service's phone: 902 404 704.
Email: clientesmad@aena.es.

Photo I mintramadrid.es

ETA´s bomb in Madrid, december 30th 2006

They kill to people in the Barajas International Airport. They were two Ecuatorians inmigrants that went to the airport to welcome their relatives coming to Spain to start a new life.

ETA = TERRORISM

The picture is from the parking tower of T4 (terminal number four). As you can see they completely destroyed the building.

Be careful with taxi drivers in Barajas Airport

Be careful with the cab drivers in Barajas Airport.  Some of them will try to take advantage of the foreigners and charge them with a huge fee.

A friend of mine, professor at a California college came to Madrid with her students.  She told me that some of her students were charged 170 y 200 euros for a trip from Barajas to Paseo del Prado.  The usual fee is 18-20 euros for that trip.

photo javiercostas.com

Gorda de Botero (Aeropuerto de Barajas)

I think I took this picture the first time I took my -then- future wife to Barajas International Airport :-)

Fernando Botero (born April 19, 1932 in Medellín, Antioquia) is a Colombian neo-figurative artist, self-titled "the most Colombian of Colombian artists" early on.

Botero tends to primarily focus on situational portraiture.  His paintings and sculptures are, on first examination, noted for their exaggerated proportions and the corpulence of the human figures and animal figures.

Botero explains his use of obese figures and forms as such: "An artist is attracted to certain kinds of form without knowing why. You adopt a position intuitively; only later do you attempt to rationalize or even justify it."