Emirates' Spanish expansion highlights Iberia's long-haul weakness to the east

Emirates' announcement to open a daily service to Barcelona and an additional daily flight to Madrid, after only entering the country in 2010, shows how Spain is unique for Emirates in being a major European market with no incumbent local competition since Iberia operates what it calls a "90 degree hub": its long-haul traffic, a successful operation, is almost entirely to the Americas, leaving Spain's demand for medium- and long-haul services east of Europe to be fulfilled by foreign carriers. Emirates does not target Iberia's Americas network from Spain but does focus on Africa, where Iberia has limited service, the Middle East, where Iberia only serves Cairo and Tel Aviv (the latter of which Emirates will not serve) and Asia-Pacific, where Iberia has no service to at all.