Review: Iberia Express business class from Madrid to Cairo

Iberia Express operate a new Airbus A321neo on the flight between Madrid and Cairo. This was the second leg of my odyssey to Australia, and I redeemed 21,250 Avios and paid €66.00 in taxes.

After flying in from Dublin on Aer Lingus, I collected my bags and checked in. Next I went back through security and off to the Velázquez lounge in Terminal 4S.

A Hand Baggage E-mail and Boarding

While waiting in the lounge, I received an e-mail from Iberia asking people to check-in hand luggage. As I was travelling in business class, I ignored it.

Boarding commenced, with the special assistance people first, followed by business class. We waited a little while in the aerobridge, before we were permitted on board.

IB1903 – Madrid to Cairo (MAD-CAI)
14 April 2025
Airbus A321neo – EC-OAS
Seat: Business Class 1A
Departure: 16:35 Arrival: 21:20

Business class is laid out with six rows of B/E Aerospace Pinnacle seats. Economy has completely different seats, slimline non-reclining ones.

I stowed my cabin bag overhead and settled in to relax while boarding proceeded. The flight appeared to be pretty full, so this took a little time.

Row One

Seated in 1A meant I had additional space with no-one able to recline into me. Of course, room to stretch the legs was diminished as a result and as is typical, you can’t stretch out fully.

Happily there are individual air vents overhead and while waiting I checked out the safety card. It has a nifty feature on the back page showing the flight phases. Eventually everyone was on board, we had the safety demonstration and took to the sky.

Drinks to Begin

The efficient crew offered a welcome drink and then took drinks orders. I decided to have some Cava to begin the trip and while it was not Champagne, it was nice enough.

It was a lovely afternoon for flying and I enjoyed the drink while I waited for the meal service. I was interested to see what was going to be served on board.

Iberia Express Dinner

As a late afternoon flight, it was dinner that was going to be served. There is no choice offered, and everyone was given the same option. This turned out to be a salad, salmon and rice, and a dessert. Bread was offered from the basket to accompany it.

Happily the food was excellent. The salad was nice and fresh, the salmon moreish and the dessert delicious. Once done it was all cleared away efficiently.

Snacks and Drinks

The Iberia Express crew are obliging, so when I asked for some nuts, I was given two of each type. That helped tide me over for a while. Further into the flight, I asked if they had green tea and the answer was yes. It comes nicely presented, with another snack to go with it.

All of that was enjoyable and soon enough we began our descent into Cairo. We landed without incident and then headed to a remote stand near Terminal 1 and onto buses. There was a separate business class bus, but some economy passengers also joined us. Shortly we arrived at the terminal and it was on to the next piece of travel.

Overall Thoughts

Iberia Express is certainly a nice way to fly. The business class seats are the same type that British Airways have had on their short haul fleet for years, and they’re perfectly comfortable.

While there was no food option, this is not unusual. Finnair also offer everyone the same meal on European business class flights, so Iberia are not an outlier. Food quality was as expected, delicious and perfect for the flight duration. With obliging service from the crew, it was a pretty decent flight.

What do you think of Iberia Express business class? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by André Gerwing via Wikimedia Commons.