Colombia Airline Regulator Fines Iberia Nearly $100,000 USD for False Advertising

Colombia’s airline regulator, the Colombian Civil Aviation Authority (La Aeronáutica Civil), has fined Iberia Airlines nearly $100,000 USD for false advertising. According to the watchdog, the Spanish carrier illicitly promoted a direct flight from Medellín to Madrid when the route in fact included a stopover in the nearby Colombian city of Cali.

The Madrid-based Iberia advertised a direct flight in various media channels, stated the Civil Aviation Authority, thereby misleading those who purchased the flight into believing it would be a seamless trip from Colombia to Spain.

In all, the authority reported 49 incidents in which the the carrier’s ad claimed that, “beginning July 3, Iberia opens the doors of Europe with a new flight from Medellin to Madrid three times per week.”

The near-$100,000 fine was levied under Colombia’s Resolution 1582. Passed in 2012, the regulation mandates that action can be imposed against any airline who advertises services that have failed to conform to reality, induced error, and lacked a clear, truthful, adequate, timely, verifiable, understandable, accurate, and appropriate information.

Iberia operates in three Colombia cities, Medellín, Cali, and the capital of Bogotá.

Photo: An Iberia jet leaves from Barcelona. Credit: Bene Riobó