Rafael Jiménez Hoyos: "We want to make Barcelona a very well-connected airport for long-haul flights."

ViladecansLevel has just launched as an independent airline within the IAG group, which also includes Iberia, Vueling, British Airways, and Aer Lingus, after being created in 2017 as a commercial brand operated by Iberia. Rafael Jiménez Hoyos is in charge of piloting this new chapter for the low-cost carrier, which he joined at the end of 2014 with extensive experience in the aviation sector. Born in Albacete, his father worked as an aircraft mechanic, and he always knew he wanted to take to the skies in one of the planes he saw him working on. This led him to become a pilot, first in the military and then commercially. Trained at the General Air Academy in San Javier (Murcia), he eventually left the military to work for airlines such as Air Nostrum, Click Air, Vueling, and Iberia. He is passionate about flying, and it shows, as he constantly shares anecdotes from the many flights he has experienced. Every month he still boards Level planes as a captain to fly them to some of their destinations, going unnoticed by many of the company's employees. He attends to theCompanies From Level's headquarters in Viladecans, in the first interview given by the executive in this new phase.

How can Level strengthen Barcelona as an independent airline?

— Now that we're completely autonomous, we have greater flexibility and are sovereign in the decisions we make about the network. We're completely focused on Barcelona, ​​and this works in our favor, because we constantly keep Barcelona in mind and identify strategic destinations. And we do it ourselves, without depending on Iberia at all, as we had until now. For example, we were the ones who decided to open a new route to Lima and increase frequencies to Buenos Aires for the Southern Hemisphere summer season.

What works in Barcelona's favor? And against them?

— On the downside, I see nothing negative. Based on the data we have, Barcelona is a city that is poorly served by long-haul flights, and there's significant room for growth in the market. Many people arrive in the city on long-haul flights, but they've had to connect through Paris, Madrid, Milan, or Rome because there are no direct flights. This is all untapped potential, and IAG has decided that now is the time to strengthen a company like Level to connect Barcelona on long-haul routes. While short-haul connections with Vueling are very good, long-haul service remains an area for improvement.

They've said they want to make Barcelona a hub.

— Our ambition is not exactly to make Barcelona one hubWhy? Because it would mean we're a company that coordinates its short-haul and long-haul flights. For example, if we were to take off at noon for a long-haul destination, we'd have to arrange for short-haul flights to arrive from different parts of Europe at the same time so passengers could connect. But we're only focused on long-haul flights.

And Vueling?

— Vueling is a very important partner of our group in Barcelona, ​​with over 100 destinations. They can provide us with many passengers from Europe who want to connect to the Americas, and we will work to generate much greater connectivity. But there are no plans for Vueling to adjust its schedules to connect its flights with ours. Even so, given that their network is so powerful, connectivity is generated simply by the fact of coming to Barcelona. Our ambition is to make El Prat a very well-connected airport for long-haul flights and take advantage of the opportunity of having a partner like Vueling.

Didn't this happen until now?

— It was done only marginally, and we want to expand it. There's enormous potential. Now that we have our own entity, we can talk to Vueling and explore how to do it. We carry a lot of people from the Americas, and El Prat is the fifth most attractive airport in Europe for both origin and destination. In other words, the final destination for this passenger is Barcelona, ​​but that doesn't mean we can't further promote connections to many other European cities.

Barcelona airport has just closed for the second year in a row above its theoretical maximum limit. Does it affect you?

— We, personally, are not worried. We have no problems at El Prat airport these days and we operate completely normally. It's true that we are very small, but even so, we don't suffer any restrictions.

Do they need El Prat airport to be expanded?

— Our growth projections are planned regardless of the airport's future. That said, if it's done sustainably, with common sense and logic, we will always support anything that generates better connectivity and infrastructure. But our growth plan is not contingent on Barcelona.

Level's planes can take off from the short runway; they don't need the long one.

— It depends on many things, such as the destination and weather conditions. Level can operate perfectly well on the short runway, without any problem. Circumstantial, there are times when we might require the long runway because it's very hot, we're flying to a distant destination, and the aircraft is heavy due to the fuel it needs. There's a huge difference in weight between an aircraft flying to New York and one flying to Santiago, Chile. If the short runway were longer, all the better, but it's not a limiting factor for us.

How did they do last year?

— We've gained more passengers, especially considering that in 2025 we had more aircraft available following the maintenance work we carried out the previous year. Connections with Latin America performed as planned, while the US market saw a decline during the summer.

Are you worried about Trump?

— This decline occurred across the board and, in particular, affected us as well. We noticed it most with travelers coming from here to there. What we've been seeing since the end of last year and during this first quarter is that the US market is recovering in both directions.

Which traveler weighs more?

— We have a lot of American passengers, at very high levels. When I landed at Level, I was surprised because I thought there would be a lot of local passengers, which there are, but there are more Americans.

So it doesn't affect them so much that Catalan travelers don't fly to the United States.

— The plane needs to be full in both directions. You can't rely solely on the US market. It has to be a mix, because the long-haul market is very complicated.

What are your predictions for this summer?

— We will grow significantly. Our eighth aircraft will arrive. Furthermore, we have been the leading long-haul airline from Barcelona for the third consecutive year. Our ambition is to maintain this position and, if possible, widen the gap with the second-place airline.

Will there be more announcements of new destinations?

— The only new route this year will be Lima, with increased frequencies to all other destinations. With the eighth aircraft, we need to consolidate our routes to the United States, Argentina, and Chile, because being able to fly to different destinations almost daily generates significant value for the customer.

Is Asia an option?

— It's not in our plans at the moment. In the short and medium term, we're focused on developing our routes to the Americas to build a denser network. For Level to continue growing, and even grow faster, we need to take decisive steps. This will make Level stronger, and then we can afford to broaden our horizons. But I also want to make it clear: we're not ruling anything out in the future, absolutely nothing.

Level was created as a response to the long-haul flights from Barcelona by a low-cost airline like Norwegian. But COVID turned everything upside down.

— Exactly. Level was launched in 2017 solely to compete with Norwegian in Barcelona. With the pandemic, Norwegian abandoned its long-haul flights. IAG could have told Level, "That's it, because there's no longer a threat," but they recognized an opportunity. The mindset has changed, and they want to make Barcelona a well-connected city with long-haul flights. We've shed that defensive image and are now a company with a promising future.

So, who are their competitors now?

— In American destinations, airlines like Delta. Except for the seats businessWe don't have any competition; we compete with them in economy and premium economy class. But there are other destinations where we have no competition because we are the only operator, such as the Barcelona-Lima route.

Are you considering switching to Boeing aircraft, as Vueling will do?

— No, we operate Airbus (A330-200) aircraft and will continue to do so. In fact, IAG plans to incorporate 21 aircraft (A330-900neo) that will be allocated to Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Level starting in 2028. We'll have to see how many we'll receive and when they'll start arriving. Therefore, we now need to consolidate our operations and prepare for this scenario. That's why I believe we must do a great deal of work in innovation. Being relatively small compared to the other companies in the group, we're at the perfect moment and have the right size to be at the forefront of technology. We can do a lot here. When you want to test something in a company with 300 aircraft, it might be difficult, but in one with eight that's just been launched, now is the time to implement new solutions to gain efficiency and sustainability.