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Monthly Archives: September 2014

Aena acquires majority stake in Luton airport Standard

Many aircrafts grounded in Luton airport because of the volcanic activity in April 2010 / Flickr - Geoff Collins

Last Friday, the Spanish council of Ministers authorised Aena to acquire the majority of London Luton airport. Thus, Aena acquires ownership of 11% of Luton airport reaching a total controlling stake of 51%. A 40% participation had been already bought in November 2013. Luton airport served 9.7 million passengers in 2013. It is the fifth largest UK airport in passengers. It is also easyJet‘s main base With regard to the other Aena airports, Luton is the sixth, after Gran Canaria and ahead of Alicante-Elche ABC said this purchase is a part of the Aena’s plan to increase the international presence in strategic airports. As…

Helitt Líneas Aéreas closes down Standard

A Helitt airplane flying from Badajoz airport / Flickr - José A.

The Málaga airport based airline Helitt Líneas Aéreas closes down after four years. According to Preferente.com, based on the information by ElMundo, José Pizarro – chairman – informed the employees through a letter that their contracts have been terminated. The company had a debt of 5 million Euros. The owner – The Pizarro family – also has about 20,000 parking places in Spain and Morocco. In August 2013, another piece by Preferente.com informed that the airline would no longer operate schedule services. Still, at that moment, they would continue to operate charter flights. This way, they offered their 3 66-seated ATR-72, in either…

Foreign tourism all-time high in Spain Standard

Considering all means of transport, Spain received 45.4 million foreign tourists between January and August 2014. This is 7.3% over the same period last year. Therefore, it means a new foreign tourism all-time high after the one achieved last year. According to Frontur – Spanish Institute of tourist studies – 9.1 million tourists came to Spain in August. This is 8.8% over August 2013. It is worth noting the French tourism, which contribution to the traffic increase was most significant: the number of French people who came to Spain by whatever means of transport increased in 171,000 in August. All the…

Aena analysing Málaga to create an international hub Standard

Málaga Airport to become an International hub

During the last meeting of the Andalusia Autonomous Community Coordination  Committee on July 25 they agreed to boost Málaga airport as International hub. CadenaSer informed last Sunday that Aena has been requested to keep this proposal in mind within the marketing plan to open new routes and continue to increase traffic and investments for Málaga airport. The idea is that Aena suggests Málaga airport for a home base to the international airlines they may meet with. This would mean a significant increase of traffic for the airport, which has availability to reach 30 million passengers per year.   Málaga Airport has availability for up…

Ryanair discarded its bid for Aena, Catalá leaves Enaire Standard

Strait of Gibraltar view from a Ryanair’s plane / flickr.com

As we have been informing, Enaire is currently responsible for Aena SA. Enaire will continue to be 100% a State company, in charge of the air navigation in Spain. On the other hand, Aena SA, the Spanish airport manager, is being sold by 49%. Ryanair discarded its bid for Aena According to CincoDías Ryanair discarded its bid for Aena. They had been announcing that they were exploring the documents, but the deadline for bids was yesterday and Ryanair discarded theirs just the day before. According to EuropaPress, the Spanish Minister of Development – Ana Pastor – assured there are national and international investors which have confirmed…

Airlines can charge for checked-in luggage Standard

Vueling aircraft landed / Aero Icarus

The court of justice of the European Union approved last Thursday that airlines can charge extra costs for the checked-in luggage. The judgement is in favour of Vueling, who had challenged the 3,000 Euros fine from the Galician Consumer Institute. According to the news by ElMundo.es, a Galician citizen reported Vueling to her local government. She complained because she had been charged with 40 Euros for checked-in luggage in a flight from A Coruña to Amsterdam. Then, the Galician Consumer Institute charged Vueling with 3,000 Euros, considering the Spanish regulation was infringed. According to the Spanish law, passengers are entitled to a one free piece…

Spanish slot coordination, AECFA started operations Standard

Spanish slot coordination. Airplane ascending while another one is queing / Jumbero

Last Monday, September 15, the Spanish association AECFA started operations. As of that day, AECFA is responsible for the Spanish slot coordination and schedule facilitation in the airports. The name AECFA stands for Spanish Association of Coordination and Facilitation (in Spanish Asociación Española de Coordinación y FAcilitación). Flight Consulting has been following this information very closely since September last year, when we already informed about the ongoing restructuring process in Aena. During the first day, AECFA distributed the Slot Historical Lists (SHL) which make a start for the Summer 2015 season in terms of slot coordination. These lists are being used…

Germanwings increased passengers by 70% Standard

Germanwings A319 together with Air Belin and Lufthansa in December 2012 / Aero Icarus

Aena published the official airport statistics for August. The overall figures are totally different from what they were in September 2013. Between January and August 2014 the airlines have increased traffic by 4.52% with regard to the same period last year. Among the most significant increases, Germanwings gained passengers by 69.35%. You may remember our analysis for the period Jan-Aug 2013 vs Jan-Aug 2012, when IAG had lost 1.6 million passengers and Ryanair 2.3 million. Within that period of 2013, the Spanish airports had lost passengers by 5.09%. Hence, the above mention increase is doubly significant. Going through the figures in detail, we find some…

Bird Blue Air Line the new startup in the Canaries Standard

People waiting for departure at Tenerife South airport terminal / Jeremy Page - Flickr

There are at least three projects for airlines based in the Canary Islands. You may remember our post Summarizing the ongoing Spanish startups, published in October 2013. Out of those 4 projects, Evelop is already operating. With regard to the projects for the Canary Islands, Preferente.com recalled those two to announce a new possible startup: Bird Blue Air Line. According to this information, none of this project has started so far. Mainly due to the entrepreneurs lack of confidence. Bird Blue Air Line is the last proposal on the Tenerife’s Government desk. Sources from the project said the airline would cost approx…

Aena will go public in early November Standard

Rafael Catlá and Ana Pastor, on the right-hand side of the image, in 2012

Last week we informed that Aena will go public in November. Yesterday, Rafael Catalá confirmed this point during a conference at Executive Forum España. As you may remember, Rafael Catalá is State Secretary for Infrastructure and, therefore, chairman of ENAIRE. ENAIRE, is the State company which is currently 100% responsible of Aena SA – formerly Aena Aeropuertos. Thus, ENAIRE is about to start the privatisation process of Aena SA by 49%. El Confidencial, informed yesterday about this conference. Hence Aena will start trading on the stock exchange in early November. As expected, they will launch 28% of their share capital for private investors through an…