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Aena will be able to avoid the price reduction if the budgets are amended Standard

  • By – 6 August, 2015
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Thomas Cook Airlines taking off in Lanzarote airport by jBarcena - Flickr.

Yesterday we informed that an Aena airport charges decrease had been confirmed through the State Budget Project. However, it looks like it is not so easy and that confirmation might not be a fact. Yesterday evening ElPais published a comprehensive article reporting that the Spanish National High Court refused all the appeals against Competition (CNMC) regarding Aena airport costs. Their decision was based on the fact that Aena’s prices are a responsibility of the parliament, thus court appeals don’t make sense. Aena’s intention was that Justice prevent the CNMC from forcing them to lower prices but that didn’t work and that’s why the Budgets…

Confirmed: 1.9% reduction in Aena airport charges for 2016 Standard

Madrid airport Terminal 4

Yesterday, the General State Budgets for 2016 were presented by the Government in the Congress. The breaking news is that it already contains the 1.9% reduction in Aena airport charges that the CNMC asked them to introduce. Looking up Article 72, paragraph One (page 48) in the budget project, it reads: “Effective on March, 1 2016 and with indefinite validity, the amounts of the airport charges decrease by 1.9% regarding the charges in force on February, 29 2016”. Also, the discount will apply to passengers with connecting flights increasing from 35% to 40%. With this, the Government accepts the request of the CNMC. However, Aena presented an appeal…

The CNMC tells Aena to introduce a 1.9% decrease in airport charges Standard

Barcelona by Camilo Rueda López

According to a publication in El Confidencial, the CNMC (the National Market and Competition Commission) has notified Aena of the definitive resolution regarding airport charges for 2016. Their decision imposes a 1.9% decrease that the Ministry of Development (Fomento) should incorporate into its General Budget which will be approved on Friday. Moreover, this scale will serve as a reference for the tariff freezing which should be applied during the following ten years, between 2017 and 2026. This middle ground between the tariff freezing solicited by Aena and the 3.5% decrease recommended by the CNMC seems to be the appropriate solution…

Plus Ultra finally receives AOC Standard

Plus Ultra EC-MDG by José Luis Celada Euba - flickr

According to an article in preferente.com, five years after the initialization of the project Plus Ultra has finally received its Air Operator Certificate (AOC). This news means that Plus Ultra now has all the necessary permissions to get off the ground. AESA gave them an “A license” which permits them to, “exploit air services for passengers, freight and/or post, in exchange for earnings and/or rent payment.” The wait has not been easy for the company, especially once they purchased their first plane which must be kept indoors and maintained. They had been aiming to start operation in the first quarter…

Norwegian will operate seven new routes between the Peninsula and the Canary Islands Standard

Norwegian Air Shuttle, Barcelona by Fotero - Flickr

An article in Expansión details how the low cost airline Norwegian will operate seven new routes between the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands beginning in October. Starting the 25th of October the company will fly to Gran Canaria and Tenerife Norte from Madrid. On the 26th of October they will begin flights to Gran Canaria and Tenerife Norte from Barcelona and the next day begin flights to Fuerteventura. They will also fly out of Malaga to Tenerife Norte starting the 26th October and to Gran Canaria starting the 30th of October. These route additions will lead to the incorporation…

Minimum Services of 80% for the new air controllers’ strike Standard

Two Iberias and one Delta operating on the Madrid airport runways

A new series of walkouts was scheduled by the Spanish air controllers for the current month of July. During the first strike, the Government established minimum services of 70% and which were considered unfair by USCA – the main controllers’ union. On Tuesday, Enaire published a press release announcing that the minimum services have now been fixed at 80% for the stops scheduled on July 11 and 25, from 10:00 to 13:00 LT and on July 12 and 26, from 17:00 to 20:00 LT. As they did last time, Enaire has pubished the justification that led them to make their decision about the minimum services. They also…

Competition intensifies its demand to Aena: 3.5% reduction for 2016 within 10 days Standard

Málaga airport, Terminal 3. Wikimedia Commons.

Aena had frozen charges until 2025 but the National Competition Commission (CNMC) published a report against that decision, urging Aena to lower fees. However, not only Aena said they wouldn’t but they presented an appeal against the CNMC’s report. That appeal was accepted by the National High Court last month and, on Friday, Vozpopuli reported that it is the only way for Aena to avoid having to apply for such reduction. At the moment, unless the National High Court accepts the precautionary measures requested by Aena, the airport charges will have to be lowered 3.5%. This is the level of the reduction required by the…

New walkouts scheduled by air controllers in Spain Standard

Terminal 1 of Barcelona-El Prat Airport, where Iberia is based. Photo by Iberia Airlines - Flickr

The main air controllers’ union, USCA, has extended the strike that they had called four more days i.e. 11, 12, 25 and 26 of July. Hence, due to Enaire’s unwillingness to reach an agreement, new walkouts have been scheduled. USCA demands the reinstatement of the controller dismissed in Santiago de Compostela as well as the filing of the sanctions which were given to 61 controllers in Barcelona. All of this comes as a consequence of the coordinated wildcat strike performed by the Spanish air controllers in 2010. On Monday, USCA anounced on their web site that the stops have been scheduled as follows: On July…

Globalia to begin indefinite strikes starting in July Standard

Aeromexico Plane in Madrid by May LM - flickr

According to information published on the rtve website, there will soon be new strikes in Spain. Groundforce, the subsidiary handling company of Globalia, will begin indefinite strikes starting on July 4th. The strike will affect the following seven Spanish airports: Barcelona-El Prat, Bilbao, Madrid-Barajas, Gran Canaria, Seville, Tenerife Norte and Tenerife Sur. There are various major airlines that will be inconvenienced by the handling strike including Aeroflot, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeroméxico, Air Europa, Etihad Airways, Korean Air, Saudia, Air France-KLM, Alitalia, Lot and Lufthansa. The strike is the result of the inability to come to an agreement over the third collective…

New base for EasyJet in Barcelona Standard

EasyJet above Barcelona by Victor - flickr

Last week ABC.es reported on the opening of a new base for EasyJet at the Barcelona El Prat airport. This is the British low cost’s second attempt at establishing a base in Spain after their first try in Madrid, which they later pulled out of. The director general of EasyJet in Spain, Javier Gándara, said that Barcelona’s case is very distinct from that of Madrid. He mentioned that Barcelona “is a market that the company knows very well, since it is the non-base airport that we fly to the most”. EasyJet will be using Barcelona as a base starting in…