Iberia CEO Luis Gallego clearly stated in an interview with elEconomista that under the current economic circumstances or even a slightly better circumstance, the airline could stay in business through 2015 but not much longer. Keeping conflicts at the company open will only prolong the pain and ensure that more lost opportunities to fix the airline and make it a competitor in the transportation market.
Inflexible payrolls have caused Iberia to fall behind and bogged down some projects that could have helped to strengthen the airline. Pilots have been pigheaded, which has stymied the development of Iberia Express. This business could have become Iberia's budget airline for mid- and short-distance flights.
While management and workers hash out an agreement in the courts, other airline competitors are filling in for Iberia. As a result of Iberia's pilot conflict and others like it is that the company has a reduced earning capacity. Luis Gallego knows that he assumed his role in order to help Iberia turn a profit, and he is not prepared to follow in the footsteps of other countries (such as Alitalia) that survive on the brink of bankruptcy.
That means that Iberia will not compromise with any specific collective, but because some sort of agreement is still possible, negotiations continue. Still, this impasse cannot continue for much longer if Iberia wants to survive. Gallegos is most worried about reducing Iberia's structural deficit in order to make the company more competitive.
Sectors such as the automobile industry have been flexible enough to weather the crisis and create jobs. Meanwhile, Iberia's rigidity pushes it toward bankruptcy and layoffs.
