Iberia to Axe 4,500 Jobs to Stay Alive

Iberia is to shed 4,500 jobs in a bid to save Spain's biggest airline from collapse and more may follow amid the economic crisis in the eurozone country, parent group International Airlines Group said on Friday.

"Iberia is in (a) fight for survival," the carrier's chief executive Rafael Sanchez-Lozano said in a statement issued by IAG, which also owns British Airways.

"It is unprofitable in all its markets. We have to take tough decisions now to save the company and return it to profitability.

"Unless we take radical action to introduce permanent structural change the future for the airline is bleak. However this plan gives us a platform to turn the business around and grow," he added.

Sanchez-Lozano said "the Spanish and European economic crisis has impacted on Iberia, but its problems are systemic and pre-date the country's current difficulties."

IAG said it was announcing "a comprehensive plan to save Iberia after record losses and return it to profitability."

The parent group unveiled a "reduction of 4,500 jobs to safeguard around 15,500 posts across the airline."

IAG added that a deadline of January 31, 2013, had been set to reach agreement with unions over the cuts.

"If agreement is not reached, deeper cuts and a more radical reduction in the size and scale of Iberia's operations will take place to secure the natural long haul traffic flows at Madrid and safeguard the company's future."