Breaking News

Category Archives: Regulations

New Air Security fee: F factor Standard

As we had already anticipated here, the “Ley de Seguridad Aerea” has been finally modified by the Government and consequently the F Factor fee currently for 0.38€, has been replaced by a new one named “Tasa de Seguridad Aérea” of 0.579885€ per departing passenger, as it was published on the Official Gazette BOE on 5th July 2013.The new tax will be effective on 5th October 2013 and it won’t be charged to those passengers who had acquired their ticket in a date prior to the entry into force of the fee, regardless of the flight date.It is also confirmed that the…

Aena to sell Aena Aeropuertos by 51% after buying Luton Airport Standard

Today, we are translating this piece of news that eldiario.es published yesterday. We believe this may help to follow the current situation in the privatisation of Aena Aeropuertos: Sources from Aena have confirmed they are about to reach an agreement with Abertis in order to disinvest from twenty international airports that they own and manage through TBI. They intend to get rid of all but Luton Airport. All the shares from TBI—currently Abertis (90%) and Aena (10%)—would go to the public company, with the financial support from the insurance company AXA. Experts from the airport industry have assured that the acquisition of Luton by Aena…

Alicante-Elche is now the official name for the airport Standard

Alicante-Elche Airport / Wikimedia Commons

As we had already anticipated, Alicante has now officially changed names to become Alicante-Elche.This became official as soon as it was published in the Spanish Official Gazette on the 12th of July. For further information you can download the document here.If you check the link to Wikipedia from our airport data base, you will notice the information there is already updated. However, they are keeping “Alicante Airport” as the name despite referring to the airport as Alicante-Elche in the body of the definition. Our Airport Name Policy requires the same name as the one displayed in Wikipedia and that is why we are keeping ”Alicante Airport” in…

Aena to negotiate a decrease in Handling fees by 30% Standard

Following with the public tender for the handling licenses in the Spanish airports, the draft issued by Aena to this respect has warned the Handling companies. Amongst other issues, this draft suggests an average decrease by 30% with regard to the current handling fees.The tender will be carried out in two phases: the first one for the airports with less than one million passengers per year and, the second one, for the airports with over one million passengers per year.Aena had said they would seek “an increase in competition and quality and a decrease in prices”. Now they are negotiating with a…

Clarification on the airport fees in the Canaries Standard

Please see below our translation from the press release published by Aena yesterday to clarify some doubts on the airport fees in the Canaries: Due to the amount of confusing information published in the media, which has led in some cases to wrong interpretations, Aena would like to clarify the following: The bonus applied to the passengers connecting flights affects to all the Spanish airports, including the Canary ones. This bonus will be increased gradually from the current 20%, becoming 30% in 2014, 35% in 2015 and 40% in 2016 and following.  This bonus has nothing to do with the…

Ministry postponed the Aena privatisation Standard

According to elEconomista.es “It has already been decided. The Ministry postponed the Aena privatisation until the spring of 2014″.In spite of the fact that the Government had said the best moment could be October this year, they have now decided to give it more time in order to get investors.However, in October 2013 they would present the roadmap with details such as the percentage of the company to be sold, etc.Apparently, the most likely alternative would be to launch an IPO (initial public offering) in two parts: one for institutional investors and another for small share holders.Delaying the process would not only…

The Ministry forced to lose the control over Aena Standard

Getting back to the privatization of Aena and considering the results from the consultation process that they had performed, the company has already arranged the details for such operation, which would correspond to 51% of the capital. The possibility of selling the company only by 49% would reduce the value of the operation considering that the private partners would still have to depend on the Ministry of Public Works. Hence, they would now be willing to lose the control over Aena. The advisors have recommended that Aena forgets about selling a minority part of the public company because it is not attractive to…

AENA to start works in Lanzarote airport Standard

works in Lanzarote

AENA confirmed they will start works in Lanzarote to fully adapt the airport to the EU safety standards about braking safety margins.“After years of debates and demands on the Lanzarote runway extension, the airport has finally initiated the works, but for doing the opposite. “As confirmed by senator Mr. Oscar Luzardo, the works will reduce the runway length by 100 meters, with an investment of more than 3 million euro.Although the reason for the works is to improve the airport safety, this will limit even more the runway size and consequently it will reduce the ability to operate to other destinations or…

Aena chose legal advisors for its privatisation Standard

Last Friday, 26 April, Aena awarded the financial and legal advising services for the privatisation process.The financial advisor will be Lazard Asesores Financieros and N+1 Corporate Finance.The legal advisors will be Pérez Llorca Abogados.According to elEconomista the Government aims to have finalised this procedure by the end of this year and would keep at least 51% of Aena.   Source: Aena.es

F factor to increase by 50% Standard

The Governments’ party has proposed in the Congress an amendment to the “Ley de Seguridad Aérea de 2003” in order to replace the current F Factor (0.38 €) associated to the Security Tax, by a new rate to support the activities of supervision and inspection services performed by AESA.This new rate will be of € 0.58 per departing passenger from any Spanish Airport, and it will be reduced by the 15% on flights from Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla to peninsular airports, and by 70% on Inter-Island flights.The entry into force of the new rate will occur within…