The Board of Directors of airport operator Aena has approved an incentive package for the 32 airports and heliports that had less than 3 million passengers in 2023.
These airports are: Asturias, Girona-Costa Brava, La Palma, A Coruña, Seve Ballesteros-Santander, Vigo, Reus, Federico García Lorca Granada-Jaén, Jerez, Region of Murcia, Almería, Zaragoza, Melilla, San Sebastián, Vitoria , El Hierro, Valladolid, Pamplona, La Gomera, Ceuta, Badajoz, León, Algeciras, Salamanca, Logroño-Agoncillo, Son Bonet, Sabadell, Córdoba, Burgos, Albacete, Madrid-Cuatro Vientos and Huesca-Pirineos.
Airlines will be exempt from paying the per-passenger fee for all travellers additional to those in 2023 for three consecutive years. In the case of the two heliports, Algeciras and Ceuta, the annual incentives are also maintained, which aim to stimulate connectivity. Likewise, the incentives that have been applied to La Palma Airport since the volcano crisis remain in force.
In addition, until March 2027, incentives are extended for the opening of new routes to new destinations in airports with more than 3 million passengers and growth is stimulated compared to the previous equivalent season on routes with Asia.
Airlines also have bonuses for operating during the low season at the seasonal airports of the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, on off-peak days at the airports of the Canary Islands and for passengers who make a connection.
These incentives will be applied to the rates approved for 2024, which will be lower than those of 2019, after the approval of the P index (+3.5%) by the Council of Ministers. The P index was created in Law 18/2014 and is developed in Royal Decree 162/201. Its calculation has been endorsed by the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC). To this 3.5% adjustments will be added that will imply that Aena’s proposal will be 4.09%, that is, an update of 40 cents per passenger on average but that, in the case, for example, of the Canary Islands, is reduced to 26 cents.
Between 2015 and 2023, Aena rates have nominally decreased by 11%. In that period, inflation has been 21%. In real terms, therefore, these rates have fallen by 32% in the period 2015-2023.
In accordance with the Spanish regulatory framework, similar to that of the rest of advanced countries, Aena’s tariff system, together with commercial income, allows the necessary investments to be made to provide airports with all safety and quality guarantees. In the period 2022-2026, the so-called DORA2, Aena will invest around 3 billion euro in these infrastructures. Aena is self-financing and, therefore, does not receive income from the General State Budgets.
The airlines will also benefit, in terms of tariffs, from the 45 million euro subsidy from the Government of Spain to cover part of the expenses they assumed to adapt the infrastructure to the needs derived from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aena airports will continue to be the most competitive in Europe, with an average total fare in the network of around 10 euro per passenger, but with differentiated levels depending on the type of airport. Thus, for example, the average total airport fare on inter-island flights (Canary Islands and Balearic Islands) will be just slightly higher than two euro per passenger; flights between the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands with the Peninsula will have a total average fare of around six euro per passenger; and regional peninsular airports will have a rate of around five euro per passenger. All this without counting the benefits of the incentive package in force.
The airports in the Aena network in Spain served 283.2 million passengers last year, a figure that represents 16.2% more than in 2022 and 2.9% more than in 2019, when 275.2 million passengers were registered, the previous historical record before the pandemic.
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