Aena will suggest a small rise in airport fees in the next Airport Regulation Document (DORA III), which will cover the years 2027 to 2031. The goal is to make sure the system can still make money and be ready for a new round of investments.
The anticipated rise would be less than the one will apply in 2026, so Spanish prices would still be among the lowest in Europe.
In an interview with Expansión, Aena’s president, Maurici Lucena, talked about this. Lucena says in it that a number of Spanish airports, such as Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Alicante, Bilbao, and Tenerife North, are getting close to their maximum capacity. This means that airlines need more space, so we need to go from a time without large expansions to a decade of building and big investments.
The head of Aena said that real airport costs have gone down by 32% from 2015 to 2024, even though ticket prices have gone up a lot.
He thinks that the tariff framework needs to be reviewed because operating costs will go up because of things like ageing infrastructure, more maintenance, inflation, the minimum wage going up, stricter security requirements, and tighter financial conditions, which make the airport sector riskier.
Air traffic will keep going up.
Lucena thinks that air traffic will keep growing, but at a slower rate. This supports the premise that fares will go up nominally after ten years of steady decreases. In this context, he also talks about how people in Europe are starting to see Ryanair as too dependent on it, realising that its business tactics cause instability. He also warns that it would take a long time for routes that the Irish airline has stopped flying to recover.
Lastly, the president of Aena thinks it is possible to keep the current payout ratio, pay for all of the planned investments in DORA III with a mix of equity and debt, and, if necessary, do some business outside of Spain without putting the company’s financial balance at risk.
Author: Derek Appleton
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