Summary - TST 6
TRANSPORTES, SERVICIOS Y TELECOMUNICACIONES
Javier Vidal Olivares
El fracaso de la expansión internacional de la aerolínea Iberia en América Latina: los casos de Panamá y República Dominicana 1966-1973
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Key words:
Iberia; aviation transport; España; América Latina.
[ Abstract ]
This article explains the performance of the Spanish airline Iberia in its early phase of multinational expansion in Latin America. At the end of the 1960’s Iberia had great liquidity due to the strong increase of revenues coming from the boom in tourist transport sector. This fact allowed the company to adopt a strategy of growth that was based on purchasing shares in Latin American airlines. The predominant system of bilateral agreements in the international air markets prevented the companies from growing by means of competitive strategies. Iberia opted for buying shares or sponsoring the creation of new companies with Latin American partners. This strategy was also impelled by the foreign policy of the Franco period, aimed at enlarging its influence in the area and becoming an influential country in Europe and United States. The cases of Air Panama Internacional and Corporación Dominicana de Aviación are analysed as examples of this strategy. In this text it is argued that the failure of both actions was caused by the political and institutional instability of these countries, not to mention the fragile foundations of the system of bilateral agreements that governed the international air transport until the liberalization of the 1980’s.
[ Abstract ]
This article explains the performance of the Spanish airline Iberia in its early phase of multinational expansion in Latin America. At the end of the 1960’s Iberia had great liquidity due to the strong increase of revenues coming from the boom in tourist transport sector. This fact allowed the company to adopt a strategy of growth that was based on purchasing shares in Latin American airlines. The predominant system of bilateral agreements in the international air markets prevented the companies from growing by means of competitive strategies. Iberia opted for buying shares or sponsoring the creation of new companies with Latin American partners. This strategy was also impelled by the foreign policy of the Franco period, aimed at enlarging its influence in the area and becoming an influential country in Europe and United States. The cases of Air Panama Internacional and Corporación Dominicana de Aviación are analysed as examples of this strategy. In this text it is argued that the failure of both actions was caused by the political and institutional instability of these countries, not to mention the fragile foundations of the system of bilateral agreements that governed the international air transport until the liberalization of the 1980’s.