Airlines hope that the forthcoming Airport Regulation Document (DORA III) will set more moderate fare increases than those proposed by Spanish airport authority Aena. At a “Happiness Industry” breakfast organised by the Hotusa group, the president of the Airlines Association (ALA), Javier Gándara, and the CEO of Volotea, Carlos Muñoz, discussed the situation in the aviation sector, also addressing the future of airport charges over the next five-year period from 2027 to 2031.
Last February, Aena published its proposal for the next DORA with a 3.8% fee increase (equivalent to €0.43 per passenger), a rise intended to support the company’s planned investments – some €13 billion – following an analysis of traffic forecasts for this period, during which it expects 1.69 billion passengers.
Although the airport operator maintains that Spanish charges will remain among the most competitive in Europe, the aviation sector argues that this is a significant increase and that Aena’s traffic forecasts are “too conservative”.
With this in mind, Gándara has stated that there is still hope that this increase will ultimately be moderated in the final DORA, as it must be analysed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMC) before becoming official policy.
Furthermore, he pointed out that the two previous DORAs set downward tariff trends in the case of the first and frozen rates in the case of the second, a stance that “could be maintained for a few more years” without altering Aena’s investment plans or compromising its profit and loss accounts.
Regarding the possibility that regional governments might have greater authority over Spanish airports—a debate that has arisen following the bilateral agreement signed between the central government and the Basque Government—Carlos Muñoz noted that Aena has “very capable teams” at the local level who could manage the airports effectively if “they had more leeway”, something that occurs in countries such as France, but he considers this a model that “is off the table here”.
Gándara noted that Aena’s model “has advantages and disadvantages”, but that “it has proven to work” although “it could be improved”. Therefore, both have indicated that their stance on co-management would depend on what form of co-management were established. “What are the key decisions? Will investments be fixed? What about fares…?” asked Gándara.
However, he indicated that the current model works and that this co-management could “have limited scope” in certain areas such as the application of incentives. The proposed increase in operating fees has attracted widespread criticism from airlines like Ryanair in particular which has reduced services to some Spanish airports in protest.