Congress will today debate an opposition centre right Partido Popular initiative calling on the government to halt the 6.5% increase that airport authority Aena plans to apply to its airport fees in 2026 so as not to harm the competitiveness of airports and the tourism sector. Congress will examine and vote on a non-legislative proposal registered by Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s PP party in the Industry and Tourism Committee for this purpose.
The PP believes that an increase in fees would ‘discourage’ the growth of traffic by airlines to Spanish regions and airports, especially those with a low-cost model that seek to optimise their operating costs in order to guide their commercial policies and operate as competitively as possible. This is even more so when Aena made a record profit of €1.9342 billion in 2024 and the government pocketed more than €746 million in dividends from its stake in the company. With the planned increase, the company would earn an additional €220 million in revenue.
The Airline Association (ALA) has already slammed the 6.5% increase in airport fees set by Spanish airport authority Aena for the 2026 financial year, and has called for the next Airport Regulation Document (DORA III), which will regulate the period 2027-2031, to include new regulatory limitations that will allow a return to a path of tariff reductions similar to that of the last decade.
ALA said that this downward trend in fees was not the result of the airport operator’s wishes, whose initial proposal envisaged cumulative increases of 10.1% between 2017 and 2021 (1.94% per year) and 17.6% between 2022 and 2026 (3.29% per year). However, the restrictions imposed by the sixth transitional provision of Law 18/2014, in force between 2015 and 2025, limited these increases.
‘The expiry of this legal limitation has opened the door to an excessive increase of 6.5% for 2026,’ the association warned in a statement. ALA president Javier Gándara has argued that this regulation has allowed a policy of freezing or reducing airport charges year after year - with the exception of 2024 - without negatively affecting Aena’s profits. Aena closed 2024 with a record profit of €1.934 billion and has distributed nearly €5 billion in dividends since its IPO in 2015.
And Ryaniar has already reacted. Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary has indicated that he could reduce another million seats on flights to Spain next summer if Spanish airport operator Aena does not lower airport charges following the announced 6.5% increase.