Iberia unveils centenary programme and special aircraft livery

Iberia has begun the countdown to its 100th anniversary in 2027, unveiling a special centenary livery and a year-long programme celebrating the airline’s history, employees, passengers and links between Spain and Latin America.

The main institutional event will be held at Iberia’s La Muñoza maintenance centre in June 2027, the month in which the airline was founded. Other activities will include an air show at Cuatro Vientos, exhibitions and events at Casa de América, a business gathering at the Madrid Stock Exchange and celebrations with the Juan Sebastián de Elcano training ship, which will also mark its centenary.

Iberia will open public spaces dedicated to the anniversary in Madrid, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Mexico City and São Paulo. A book and documentary will chronicle the airline’s history, while a new Iberia Foundation will coordinate its humanitarian and social-impact activities.

Around 60,000 current and former employees are expected to participate in centenary events. These will include the symbolic IB100 flight retracing the company’s development over the past century.

The anniversary will coincide with several customer-service upgrades, including refurbished long-haul cabins, the fleet-wide rollout of free high-speed Starlink Wi-Fi and a renewed culinary offering developed with Spain’s Royal Academy of Gastronomy.

The programme will also highlight Iberia’s Flight Plan 2030, backed by €6 billion in investment. The airline’s long-haul fleet has grown from 43 aircraft at the beginning of 2025 to 51, with a target of around 70. New Airbus A321XLRs have enabled Iberia to add destinations including Orlando, Recife, Fortaleza, Toronto and Monterrey.