Iberia is planning one of the more unusual flights of the year: a special charter designed to chase the total solar eclipse that will sweep across parts of Spain on August 12, 2026. To do it, the Spanish flag carrier will deploy one of its new Airbus A321XLRs on a mission built entirely around the sky above.
The aircraft is scheduled to depart Madrid-Barajas at 18:45 local time and follow a carefully drawn route over the province of Palencia, in north-central Spain, plotted to maximise the visibility of the eclipse. Cruising at around 10,000 metres, the jet will give its passengers an unobstructed, above-the-clouds view of the event.
The flight has been given the number IB1473 — a nod to 1473, the birth year of the renowned 16th-century Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. On board will be a team of researchers taking part in the Shelios programme, a scientific and educational initiative led by astronomer Miquel Serra-Ricart, a researcher and former director of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.
From altitude, the researchers plan to take measurements of the morphology of the Sun and make additional observations, including the relative positions of Venus and Mercury with respect to the Sun. Flying above the cloud layer removes the single biggest risk to any eclipse observation — the weather — and offers a clarity that ground-based viewing cannot guarantee.
There is an aviation twist to the crew as well: one of the pilots, Javier Meana Fernández, has a background in astrophysics, blending the disciplines of flying and astronomy in a single cockpit.
Iberia intends to broadcast the eclipse live from the sky through its social media channels. That is where the aircraft choice matters. The A321XLR operating the mission is one of the airline's first, and it is equipped with Starlink connectivity, giving it the bandwidth to stream high-quality video from the flight in real time.
The A321XLR itself is a milestone aircraft for Iberia. The long-range single-aisle jet is reshaping how carriers approach thin long-haul markets, and Iberia has been among the early operators to put it into service. Using one for a public science event is a neat piece of showmanship that highlights both the aircraft's range and its modern cabin technology.
Eclipse-chasing flights are rare and logistically demanding, requiring precise timing, routing and altitude to place the aircraft in exactly the right patch of sky at the right moment. For Iberia, the mission is equal parts science, spectacle and marketing — a chance to showcase its newest jet while giving astronomers, and a live online audience, a front-row seat to a fleeting celestial event.
Sources: AeroTime. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By James Holloway.
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