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Author Archives: Jorge Masot

Minimum services of 70% for the air controllers’ strike next week Standard

Madrid's skyscrapers from the airport and the Terminal 4 ATC tower. Flickr - Armando G Alonso.

The Ministry of Development (Fomento) has confirmed the Spanish air traffic controllers’ strike and has established the minimum services in 70% of the scheduled staff for those days.  The controllers called a strike to protest the decision to sanction 61 controllers over a strike which ended with the total closure of Spanish air space in 2010. Being unable to reach an agreement with the main controllers’ union (USCA), the Government published a press release on both enaire.es and fomento.es to define the minimum services. This is the translation from Spanish: <<Development fixes the minimum services for the strike called by ENAIRE’s air…

Strikes called by air traffic controllers and Ryanair handling staff Standard

Barcelona airport ATC tower / Victor

“Spain’s air traffic controllers’ union (USCA) has called partial strikes for June 8, 10, 12, and 14 to protest the national airport authority’s decision to sanction 61 controllers over a wildcat stoppage that led to the total closure of Spanish air space in December 2010.” This is part of the information which was published in the English version of ElPais yesterday. At the same time, ElConfidencial informed this morning that Ángel Luis Arias Serrano has been appointed Director General of Enaire. Julio Gómez-Pomar continues to be chairman, being Secretary State for Infraestructure which corresponds to the Ministry of Development (Fomento). However, due to heavy workload as such,…

Aena awarded the ramp handling licenses for its 43 airports Standard

A view from door 2L of the left wing of Iberia Airbus A340-600 EC-JOH upon arrival at Madrid Barajas Airport by Matt Hintsa - Flickr

Yesterday evening Aena announced they have awarded the ramp handling licenses for their 43 airports. In November, Aena received 167 bids for its 19 major airports. Beforehand, in March, they received 10 bids for the ramp handling licenses in the 22 Spanish airports with less than a million passengers per year within the first phase of the handling tender. Now, they have awarded all the licenses together, which will be in effect for the next seven years. With the new licenses Aena offers more competitive ground handling solutions to airlines, adapting their pricing structure to the particular needs. In terms and…

Groundforce unions call a six day strike in Barcelona Standard

Groundforce equipment seen from an airplane at Barcelona airport by Yasunari Goto - Flickr

Just when we are expecting the outcome of the Handling licenses  any day now, we found an article in LaVanguardia informing that the Groundforce Union UGT has called a six day long strike during the month of May. Groundforce is the handling division of Globalia and is the main groundhandling company that provides services at the Barcelona airport. Bearing in mind the current ground handling map in the Spanish airports, Groundforce is the second largest operator after Iberia Handling. The Groundforce Unions have called stops for the days 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 and 29 of May. They aim to protest against the…

Aena prices might have to be reduced up to 10% Standard

Air Canada Boeing 767-300ER taxiing at El Prat Airport / Wikimedia Commons - Russavia

On Monday, Aena held a meeting with the associations to continue the consultation process over airport charges.  ElMundo published a piece informing that the airline associations ALA, ACETA, AECA and ELFAA were discussing the prices to be charged by Aena during 2016. In this line, yesterday ElConfidencial informed that the National Competition Commission is using all available legal resources to force Aena to lower their prices. According to this article, sources from the industry estimate this reduction to be between 8 and 10%. The Ministry of Development is very upset though, so an intense battle is expected. Competition demands that the dual till model which Aena…

Ryanair doubled their advantage over Vueling Standard

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

In March of last year Vueling was about to catch Ryanair as the main operator in the Spanish airports. This morning, thirteen months later, Preferente.com informed that Ryanair doubled their advantage with regard to the Spanish airline. They served 1.4 million more passengers than Vueling between January and March 2015. This nearly doubles the 800,000 passenger difference they had over Vueling within the first quarter of 2014. So far this year, Ryanair has transported 4.7 million passengers, which is a 870,000 passenger increase (22.8%). Vueling has transported 3.2 million travelers, up 250,000 passengers (8.2%) with regard to the same period in 2013. After…

Air Europa to build a new hangar in Madrid airport Standard

Brand new boeing 787 at Madrid airport with T4 in the background. By José A. - Flickr.

Talks with Aena are in an advanced stage for reaching an agreement that lets Air Europa build a new hangar at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport. According to an article published by ElEconomista, the hangar will be built near Terminal 1, on land belonging to Aena. This was explained by Juan José Hidalgo (president of Air Europa) during a press conference on the presentation of their route Madrid-Miami, which will be operated with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Hidalgo expects the Hangar will be ready for the summer of 2016. It will be able to hold 4 big aircrafts and 3 small…

Competition might force Aena to lower their airport charges Standard

Aena offices in Madrid / Luis García - Wikimedia Commons

The National Competition Commission, which had already expressed their concern about the Aena’s privatisation, has now published a report on Aena’s dual till model.  In theory, the dual till is intended to separate the regulated costs from the ones which are a consequence of the commercial activities. However, Competition believes that the dual till implementation might lead to incremental costs which, in turn, would mean an increase in the airport charges. On Monday, ElConfidencial published a comprehensive article about the report issued by the National Competition Commission. According to this piece, Competition intends to adjust the costs which correspond to the commercial activities and the costs which correspond…

Fast lane available at Palma airport as of today Standard

Terminal C of Palma de Majorca Airport by Wusel007 - Wikimedia Commons

As of today, the airlines will be able to come to agreements with Palma airport over the use of the brand new “fast lane”. This will let some of the passengers go straight to the security controls. No need to queue. This system has been set up at the airlines’ request and will be handled by them too. They will decide if they want to use it and how much each passengers has to pay for it.  For their part, Aena will charge the airline 1.5 Euros per passenger. The news was published this morning in a piece by DiaroDeMallorca. The announcement…

Ryanair to connect Castellon with Bristol and London Standard

Castellon Airport Terminal in November 2009 by La Veu del País Valencià - Flickr

This morning, in a press conference, Ryanair announced they will start selling tickets for flights to Castellón. ElMundo and LasProvincias have just informed that José Espartero – Ryanair’s Commercial director in Spain and Portugal – explained that the airline will connect Castellón with Bristol and London-Stansted as of September. In particular, they will start Castellón-London on September 15, to operate three times a week; Castellón-Bristol will begin on September 16 and will have 2 frequencies per week. Ryanair reckons that there are 60,000 potential passengers per year with these routes. With regard to the prices, during a period of time the tickets will cost…