“If Aena and the Government reconsider with the rates, we will bring those planes back and more”

How far are you willing to go with cuts at regional airports?

I hope that there are no more cuts, because I hope that Aena and the Government reconsider and begin to reduce costs at regional airports. If they do, we can bring all these planes back and more. But we have to do something here, we cannot sit back while Spain raises rates and Italy and Slovakia and Croatia and Morocco reduce them. However, we want to continue growing here and I believe that the latest adjustment seeks, precisely, to make the Government and Aena reflect because they are managing this in the wrong way and it is time to change policy.

You have regretted that Aena does not listen to your proposals for growth in Spain, why is that?

Look, Aena is a large government monopoly. And the large government monopolies believe that they dominate the world and they decide above all else. Governments should be much more proactive and honestly I’m amazed. When we met with President Pedro Sánchez and Transport Minister Óscar Puente, in January 2024, They promised us that they want to grow regional airports and we thought it was great. It’s been two years and we still haven’t received any response. They talk about developing the regions, but when the time comes to do so they do nothing.

Why has your relationship with Spanish institutions deteriorated so much?

Rates rise, we make proposals, we present them in writing and we get no response. There is no point in wondering what went wrong; The answer is that we don’t know. We want to grow in regional Spain by 40%, but we do not get any response from the Government. The only reaction we get is that the airport monopoly raises rates by another 6.5%, while other countries reduce them. And it’s not that we don’t like Spain. We are opening a maintenance center in Madrid, another in Seville. We have 107 aircraft based here. Before Christmas we will open a new pilot and crew training center in the center of Madrid. We have invested between 50 and 60 million in these facilities. We are creating jobs, new offices, investing heavily in Spain. But we simply did not get any response from the Government. The question they should ask the Government is: why haven’t they done anything about it?

Are you open to negotiating with the institutions to reverse this situation?

Not only are we open to negotiating, we have sent them proposals. But we can’t get anyone to respond. It is very difficult to negotiate when you submit a proposal and get no response, or when the only response you receive is: “No, we are going to raise costs by 6.5% next year.” And the saddest thing is that, while Aena raises rates, in Italy, for example, they reduce them. This makes it easier for us to transfer traffic to regional Italy. So regional Italy wins and regional Spain loses, simply because its government does not act.

What is your opinion of Aena’s new investment plan?

We have asked Aena to detail what those 13,000 million are going to be spent on: in which airports, where and when. They told us no. So that 13 billion number seems made up. We believe that the majority will go to Latin America, purchasing airports in Central and South America. They are international expansion plans, and Spanish consumers will end up paying higher rates to finance it. Aena does not need to spend money in Jerez, A Coruña or Santiago to increase traffic: those airports are half empty. They already have their runways and terminals, they just aren’t using them. Maybe they need more capacity in Madrid, and that’s fine, but then let them raise rates there and in Barcelona, ​​and lower them at empty regional airports.

What do you think about airlines increasing capacity following the Ryanair cuts?

None of those airlines have the capacity, the type of aircraft or the scale that we have. They do not connect regional airports with all the destinations we cover throughout Europe. We do not want to reduce traffic in regional Spain, but this goes against the laws of the economy. If demand increases, as is the case in Madrid and Barcelona, ​​prices are raised. However, if demand is low or insufficient – as in many regional airports that operate at 25% of their capacity – rates should be lowered to attract more traffic.

What feedback did you get from your meeting with the European Commissioner for Transport?

Of course, our meetings with politicians are confidential, but we received a very good reception from the commissioner. But the meeting was not mainly about the disputes with Spain, we talked very little about that. The focus was on eliminating environmental taxes on air transport in Europe and reforming air traffic control. Our biggest problem with the European Commission is that it must protect overflight flights during the French controllers’ strikes. When the French go on strike, they protect French flights, but Spanish flights to Germany, Irish flights to Portugal, and in general all non-French flights are cancelled. So most of the meeting focused on air traffic control reform and reducing environmental taxes.

Did you expect Brussels to file charges against Spain for the Consumer sanction?

In the meeting with Tzitzikostas, the Transport Commissioner, we asked him when he planned to issue a resolution on Spain. He is a new commissioner, and I believe that in his first 12 months he has already initiated infringement proceedings against Spain. And for the European Commission to do that, being a large and powerful country within the EU, Spanish law must be manifestly incorrect. And the problem is that it is.