2023-07-25 20:09:28
The airport manager Aena will propose raising airport fees by around 4% as of March 1, 2024. This increase will mean an increase in air tickets in the coming months, taking into account that the airlines, which pay these fees for the services they receive from the airports, will then pass this increase on to passengers.
The proposal, which has been approved this Tuesday by the board of directors of the public company, must now have the approval of the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC).
As this is relevant information for the company, it will most likely be sent to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) tomorrow, Wednesday, in parallel with the results.
The newspaper ‘Expansión’ advanced today that the proposal for a rate increase raised by Aena is 4.1%.
One of the main reasons that could be behind this decision to propose a rate increase is the increase in energy and fuel costs in recent months, in addition to the recovery in air traffic with a return to historical data, which could also underpin an increase in airport rates after the freezes of recent years.
The Airport Regulation Document (DORA) 2022-2026 establishes that the rates for airlines are frozen until 2026. However, a 2014 law allows Aena to pass on extraordinary costs out of control that arise during that period, as could be the case.
The increase, which must now be analyzed by the CNMC and have the approval of the Council of Ministers, would come into force on March 1, 2024, and could lead to an increase in air tickets by the airlines, which flatly reject this increase.
And it is that this proposal for an increase by Aena collides head-on with the wishes of the airlines represented mainly by the Association of Airlines (ALA) and IATA, which on the contrary are asking for a reduction arguing an increase in fuel costs and salary costs.
The airlines have repeatedly asked Aena not to raise airport fees in 2024 to favor the consolidation of the recovery of the air sector, which will allow, in their opinion, “an improvement in competitiveness and the service that users receive”.
ALA was confident that the airport manager would opt for competitive rates “to facilitate the recovery of commercial aviation”, still “very impacted by the high indebtedness” that many companies assumed during the pandemic.
From the Association they consider that Aena “has room not to raise airport taxes” after entering profits this year and after the recent decision to recover the payment of dividends to its shareholders.
For their part, airport managers criticize that airlines continue to raise ticket prices, while calling for rate cuts.
Thus, the vice president of Aena, Javier Marín criticized last June at a summit of the Airports Council International (ACI, for its acronym in English) that national regulators continue “obsessed with applying downward pressure on airport rates believing that this benefits the final consumer”.
From ACI it is defended that the tariff containment in the airports only benefits the shareholders of the airline companies, while these have raised prices in percentages higher than 30%, “six times above inflation”
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