Iberia Will Bring Its New Airbus A350 to Chicago

Iberia took delivery of its first Airbus A350 in June and placed it on the New York (JFK) - Madrid (MAD) route in August. Today, the airline is announcing that it's adding the new aircraft to its Chicago service.

Starting in May 2019, Iberia will fly its A350 nonstop between Chicago (ORD) to Madrid. It also announced it will fly the aircraft between Buenos Aries (EZE) and Madrid in February 2019.

The Spanish airline has ordered 16 A350-900s and have already received two from Airbus, it will take delivery of three of them in 2019 and the remaining through 2021. The jet is known for its increased fuel efficiency and upgrades to passenger experience like a more spacious cabin and better overhead storage. The jet will bring down the average age of Iberia's long-haul fleet that includes older Airbus A340-600s.

TPG staffers have reviewed Iberia's A350-900 in both economy and business — while they both have solid hard products the soft product has plenty of room for improvement.

The aircraft contains a business class cabin with 31 lie-flat seats in 1-2-1 formation.

You'll find 24 seats in premium economy in a 2-4-2 layout and 293 in coach in a comfortable 3-3-3 configuration.

The airline also announced it would be increasing service to the Latin American cities of Lima, Montevideo, Quito and Rio de Janeiro.

If you want to check out the new long-haul aircraft, you can use a variety of miles on the Oneworld carrier including American miles and British Airways or Iberia Avios. One-way in business will run you 57,500 American in miles in taxes and fees or 30,000 miles in economy.