“Aena should end her monopoly in Spain and head towards a model similar to the British where airports of the same territory compete with each other.” It is easy to guess who those words are. Indeed, its owner is Michael O’Leary but it is more difficult to succeed with the date.
Now, Balearic Islands and Andalusia begin to slide that it is perhaps a good idea. They have a proposal: end Aena’s monopoly.
Competence. As we said, the previous words are from O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair. But it is not part of its last pressure measure to justify its march of some Spanish airports. These statements already made them in 2017. Obviously, his opinion has not changed since then.
What has changed is the position of some voices within Spain, to which we are much less accustomed. These have come from the Balearic Islands and Andalusia who propose a new model: they want to manage their airports and, thus, plant competition to Aena who is the one who carries the singing voice throughout the country.
Andalusia. “We are not very happy with how Aena is maintaining our airports. We are thinking whether to make a co -management agreement or enter the shareholding of a company that could develop an Andalusian Aena.” With these words, Arturo Bernal, Tourism Councilor of the Junta de Andalucía, his position regarding Aena’s work in his region to questions from questions from The confidential.
Whaarse. The position of the Balearic Islands is the same. Marga Prohens, president of the Balearic Islands, has already defended her position with a not law initiative. The intention is that there is a co -management between Aena and the regional government. One of the reasons indicated is that the works that are being carried out at Son Sant Joan are “quite inefficient”, in Prohens’s words.
How does Aena work? Aena is the Spanish airport management company. It has so many aerodromes under its umbrella (46 airports and two helipuertos) that right now is the company that manages the most spaces of this type in the world. Its shareholding is 51% public and 49% private since Law 8/2014 let private shareholders into the company.
Since then, Aena is still in charge of maintaining Spanish airports in the best state and, of course, making them attractive to airlines. Hence, for example, the rates to operate at regional airports are much lower than those in Madrid, Barcelona … or Balearic Islands, whose airfield are San Joan is the most important third in our country.
Solidarity. In the article of The confidentialwhat the unions and defenders of the AENA model defend is that the company allows smaller airports to remain open despite the fact that, together, they are deficit for their low volume of flights. With its benefits, Madrid or Barcelona help Santiago de Compostela remain open and, despite Ryanair’s departure, new companies remain attractive to occupy this space.
However, they emphasize that 49% private capital is pressing everything possible so that investments in deficit airports is the minimum possible with the aim of maximizing benefits. For CCOO, the ideal solution is simple: 100% public capital.
And they emphasize: “Aena worked much better because all the benefits reverted in improvements in the network. The company generated more income to the state of what it needed to invest in airports. Now we have vulture funds in the shareholding.”
Compete? What they support from the Balearic Islands and Andalusia is the same as O’Leary: the best model is that airports compete with each other. For the CEO of Ryanair, the ideal is that the airports of the same space fight to offer the most attractive offer to the company. What they want from the autonomous communities is to enter the management so that their airports are more attractive to those of other regions and have more benefits to their coffers.
A few days ago, Maurici Lucena, president of Aena, published a letter about Ryanair’s threats to continue taking flights from the Spanish territory. It defended that Spain has one of the most competitive rates of the European environment, thanks to a very demanding regulation, which, among other factors, induces high operational efficiency of the company. “
On the other hand, the demand for Balearic Islands and Andalusia also coincide with the announcement by the government that will invest 12,888 million euros in Spanish airports. Of course, of these investments it has only been pointed out that “9,991 million euros correspond to regulated investments, while the rest will go to unregulated actions (associated with commercial activity)”, without offering more specific details or more specific interventions.
Are there airports that are not from Aena? Yes, in total there are four airports in Spain that are not managed by Aena: Castellón, Ciudad Real, Teruel and Lleida. In addition, that of Andorra-La Seu d’Urgell is also managed by Catalonia.
The results are disparate. Castellón has not stopped accumulating lost since it launched. Its construction was a cost of 158 million euros. Ciudad Real also does not give benefits but, in this case, its management is completely private.
Teruel has specialized in its position as an industrial airfield. A hole has been created on the international map for its maintenance spaces and for repair of the aircraft. Lleida is an environment used by airlines for pilot formation. Among other companies, Air France, Vueling and Volotea operate here. Finally, that of Andorra-La Seu d’Urgell yes operates with commercial flights. However, the sum of both has not reported any year of benefits since regional reins were taken in 2014.
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In WorldOfSoftware | Ryanair’s march has left regional airports: 240,000 passengers less and 70% less in one of them
