Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas

Plus Ultra is one of those airlines you don’t deliberately look for in Madrid every day – and then suddenly have in front of your lens. A single Airbus A330 with large titles, a Spanish registration, a flight number with PU: behind it is a small long-haul airline that has shuttled between Spain and Latin America since 2015. For spotters it is interesting precisely because of its size, because the fleet is manageable enough to collect aircraft by aircraft. This page shows you where Plus Ultra comes from, what it flies and how to recognize it reliably.

Plus Ultra at a glance

Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas is a Spanish long-haul airline headquartered in Madrid. The company was founded in 2011, among others by a former manager of Air Madrid, which collapsed in 2006. After certification by the Spanish aviation authority, the first aircraft took off in July 2015. At first, Plus Ultra flew mainly on behalf of other airlines and for charter customers; regular scheduled flights of its own to Latin America have existed since June 2016, initially to Lima and Santo Domingo.

That sets Plus Ultra clearly apart from the two big network airlines in Madrid. Iberia and Air Europa operate large fleets, belong to alliances and offer connections to the whole world. Plus Ultra, by contrast, is a niche provider: few aircraft, few routes, a clear focus on traffic between Spain and South America, supplemented by charter and ACMI contracts. The airline belongs to no alliance.

By its own account, Plus Ultra is an IATA member and has passed the IATA IOSA safety audit. The cabin is two-class with business and economy, which is called “Turista” at Plus Ultra. According to the airline, baggage is included in all fares.

The name: “further beyond”

“Plus Ultra” is Latin and means roughly “further beyond.” The expression has been Spain’s motto for centuries and appears in the national coat of arms on the banner around the Pillars of Hercules. It goes back to Emperor Charles V, who turned the old “Non plus ultra” – “nothing further beyond” – around: beyond the Strait of Gibraltar the world did not end, but America began.

For aviation fans the name has a second layer. In 1926, a Spanish flying boat named “Plus Ultra” flew in several stages from Spain across the South Atlantic to Buenos Aires – a pioneering achievement of early aviation. That a modern airline offers exactly this connection again is no coincidence: the name stands for the bridge between Spain and Latin America.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code PU: appears in the flight number, on the departure board and on the ticket.
• ICAO code PUE: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers.
• Callsign SPANISH: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

The callsign “SPANISH” surprises many, because it sounds like a state airline. Iberia, however, uses “IBERIA” on the radio and Air Europa “EUROPA” – the free “SPANISH” is carried by Plus Ultra today. If you listen in on the radio in Madrid, that is a quick way to match it. How IATA and ICAO codes work in general is explained in the article IATA and ICAO codes.

The fleet: only the Airbus A330 today

As of 2026, Plus Ultra operates exclusively the Airbus A330, namely the A330-200 and A330-300 versions. According to the airline, the aircraft have 275 to 299 seats in two classes depending on the configuration. The exact number of aircraft fluctuates, because Plus Ultra operates its fleet leased and individual aircraft come and go; according to publicly available fleet lists, it is in the range of six to seven aircraft in 2026. The aircraft are not new but mostly come secondhand.

Type	Status	Seats (per airline)	Spotter tip
Airbus A330-200	in service, most of the fleet	275–299 in two classes	Shorter fuselage, the airline’s workhorse
Airbus A330-300	in service, individual aircraft	275–299 in two classes	Longer fuselage, looks clearly more stretched
Airbus A340-300	retired (2015–2025)	–	Launch fleet, four engines
Airbus A340-600	retired (2019–2022)	–	Very long fuselage, four engines
Boeing 777-200ER	briefly leased in 2017	–	On wet lease from Privilege Style

The manufacturer of the current fleet is Airbus. For collectors, the small size of the fleet is an advantage: after a few visits to Madrid, you quickly have most of the registrations together – and notice which aircraft is still missing.

The A340 era: four engines out of Madrid

Anyone who spotted in Madrid between 2015 and 2025 knows Plus Ultra mainly as an A340 operator. The launch fleet consisted of used Airbus A340-300s that had previously flown for Gulf Air, among others. In 2019, two A340-600s, the longest version of the series, were added. They stayed only until 2022, and the last A340-300s left the fleet in 2025.

That ended a piece of spotting history for Madrid. Iberia had retired its A340s some years earlier, and four-engine passenger aircraft have become rare in Europe overall. Photos of Plus Ultra A340s are sought-after archive pictures today. If you have some yourself, it is best to archive them neatly with registration and date.

Fuselage, cockpit and wings of the A330 and A340 are very similar, because both types were developed in parallel. When in doubt, you count the engines – or look at the details in the guide A330 or A340?

How to recognize Plus Ultra

The most striking feature is the large “Plus Ultra” titles on the white fuselage. Then there is the Spanish registration with the prefix EC- on the rear fuselage. Many aircraft also carry christened names, often with references to figures of Mary or saints – according to fleet lists, for example “Virgen de la Almudena,” after the patron saint of Madrid, or “Virgen de la Candelaria,” the patron saint of the Canary Islands. That is a nice detail for close-ups at the gate or while taxiing. How to read the registration correctly yourself is explained in the guide understanding aircraft registrations.

Since the fleet consists only of A330s, the type alone helps you with the preselection: a big twinjet with a Spanish registration that arrives from South America in the morning and is not in Iberia or Air Europa colors is a good candidate in Madrid. A glance at the titles and the tracker does the rest.

Route network: focus on Latin America

Plus Ultra’s route network was aimed at Latin America from the start, but has often changed. In fall 2026, the airline’s website lists these connections:

• Madrid – Lima (Peru)
• Madrid – Caracas (Venezuela)
• Madrid – Buenos Aires (Argentina)
• Tenerife North – Caracas

In addition there are charter flights and ACMI contracts, in which Plus Ultra provides aircraft and crew for other customers. In the past, the airline also served Santiago de Chile, Havana, Santo Domingo, Quito, Guayaquil as well as Bogotá and Cartagena in Colombia for a time; it also flew to Malabo in Equatorial Guinea. Many of these routes were dropped again or suspended. So always check the current schedule before you look for a particular connection.

Venezuela plays a special role in the network. Since many European airlines have withdrawn from the country, Plus Ultra is among the few providers of direct flights between Spain and Caracas. Venezuelan airlines such as Conviasa and Estelar also operate on the same axis – a small but fine Latin America focus for spotters in Madrid.

For connections within Spain, Plus Ultra relies on partners. The airline cites combined offers with Spanish high-speed rail and with Binter for connections within Spain and to the islands.

The 2021 state aid and the investigations

Hardly any small airline has made as many headlines in Spain as Plus Ultra. In March 2021, the government approved aid of €53 million from a fund managed by the state holding SEPI for strategically important companies hit by the Covid pandemic. Critics countered the decision by saying that Plus Ultra was tiny relative to Spanish air traffic and could hardly count as “strategic.”

The aid occupied several courts. A first proceeding in Madrid was dropped in early 2023. Later, the origin of funds and the ownership structure with shareholders from Venezuela came into focus again. In December 2025, Spanish police searched the company headquarters as part of an investigation on suspicion of money laundering; the owner and the CEO were temporarily detained and released after being brought before the judge. According to publicly available information, the investigations are not concluded; the presumption of innocence applies to everyone involved.

For you as a spotter, this changes little about flight operations at first – the A330s keep flying. But it shows why a current look at routes and fleet is always worthwhile with small airlines.

Spotting Plus Ultra in Madrid

The airline’s hub is Madrid-Barajas. There, the long-haul flights from South America – as with most transatlantic connections – typically land in the morning hours, and departures are often in the late morning, afternoon or evening. When long-haul flights arrive in Europe and why is explained in the article long-haul arrival times in Europe.

A well-known spot is La Muñoza with a view of the Barajas runway system. An overview of all the options and the runway configurations is offered by the plane spotting guide for Madrid-Barajas. Before you set out, also read the notes on spotting in Spain – the rules around airports there are in some cases stricter than in Germany.

Rarer but appealing is Tenerife North. Plus Ultra flies from there to Caracas, and an A330 among Binter’s regional aircraft is a real eye-catcher at the island airport. In Germany, by contrast, Plus Ultra is practically not to be seen in scheduled service; sightings here are conceivable at most on charter or special flights.

Common mix-ups

• Taking Plus Ultra for Iberia – both fly from Madrid to Latin America, but Iberia is the big network airline with its own look and oneworld membership.
• Taking every Spanish A330 for Plus Ultra – Wamos Air and other charter providers also fly A330s with EC registrations.
• Linking the callsign SPANISH with Iberia – on the radio Iberia identifies as “IBERIA,” while “SPANISH” belongs to Plus Ultra.
• Logging an A340 as a current Plus Ultra aircraft – the A340s have been retired since 2025; current photos show A330s.
• Equating the PU flight number with the aircraft flying – in case of shortages or ACMI operations, aircraft and flight number can diverge.
• Taking Plus Ultra for a low-cost airline – the airline offers business class and included baggage, but is also not a big network carrier with an alliance.

Conclusion

Plus Ultra is a small airline with a big name. With a manageable A330 fleet, it links Madrid and Tenerife with Latin America, its A340 past has left traces in many photo archives in Madrid, and the 2021 state aid still causes discussion today. For spotters it is a rewarding collecting target: few aircraft, clear features, fixed times of day at Barajas.