Madrid. The insider tips. Standard

Dear IATA colleagues, The lines below are not a complete guide to Madrid. They are just a collection of some information we think could be useful to you during your stay in Madrid.   Transport to/from the Conference Hotel: There is a shuttle to/from the airport and they have second shuttle to Madrid downtown (Plaza de Neptuno, close to the Museums Area and Paseo del Prado) a couple of times a day. Please have a look at the Hotel website for further information or request information once you are at the hotel. On the Hotel website you will also see information…

Airport tariffs in Spain expected for 2018 Standard

Barcelona by Camilo Rueda López

After the completion of Aena’s Consultation Process with the airlines and their representatives,  the Board of Directors has approved the airport prices variation for 2018 proposed by Aena. Aena’s proposal is based on the balance between the costs and revenues of each of the airport tariffs keeping a yearly overall index of 2.22%. The final proposal was submitted to the DGAC (Civil Aviation Authority) on 31st July for its approval and it determinates the following variations on the actual prices for the main airport tariffs:   Landing -0.5% Transit -2.0% Meteo +2.8% Security -3.0% Parking +5.4% Passenger fee -2.9% PMR…

Enaire’s en-route tariff will decrease 11.5% between 2018 and 2020 Standard

Barcelona airport ATC tower / Victor

According to El Diario, the Spanish Minister of Public Works, Iñigo de la Serna, announced last week that Enaire has finalized a plan through which the en-route tariff paid by airlines for Air Navigation Services, will decrease 11.5% between 2018 and 2020. During the World ATM Congress held in Madrid, the Minister highlighted that the en-route charges have been frozen since 2012 and the expected decreases will be 3% in 2018, 4% in 2019 and 5% in 2020. This reduction of the en-route tariffs will signify 184 million euros of savings for the airlines, De la Serna said. This new…

Aena will earn 40 million by eliminating incentives in 2017 Standard

Madrid airport Terminal 4 / shutterstock

Today El Confidencial  published that Aena has decided to eliminate the passenger growth incentives for those airports that exceed three million passengers per year. In spite of the change, a new incentive for long-haul routes has been introduced and in the meantime the valley days in the Canaries remain the same. The selective removal of incentives that were being implemented in previous years will compensate the reduction of Aena’s income resulting from a decrease of charges effective as of 1st March. Through this measure, Aena will earn around 40 million euros. This amount is even larger than the sum of expected…

Rajoy announces an 11% reduction of Aena’s rates until 2021 Standard

Aena Logo by Ricardo Ricote Rodríguez - Flickr

According to a publication in Cinco Días, the Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, has announced that tomorrow the Council of Ministers will approve the first document of airport regulation (DORA) for the 2017-2021 period which will include an 11% reduction of Aena’s rates until 2021.   This decision represents an average yearly reduction of 2.2% for the next five years, which goes beyond the reduction required by the National Competition Commission (CNMC), but is lower than the 2.59% requested by the airlines.   “The reduction for the whole period will be 11% and it aims to improve the competitiveness…

Iberia Handling unions call a strike in Ibiza Standard

Aircraft at the Ibiza airport's platform by Jordi Sanchez Teruel - Flickr

Iberia Handling unions have called a strike in Ibiza to be held on July 30 and 31 and on August 4 and 8. Walkouts have been programmed from 12:00 to 14:00 and from 2100 to 23:00 local time. Diario de Ibiza reports today that the strike might become indefinite if an agreement is not reached during the meeting that has been scheduled today in Madrid. Also, workers have scheduled an assembly for this Thursday July 28 to deal with all the news that may have arisen during the last days. The main demand of the unions is that the current collective bargaining agreement…

Rafael de Reyna, Jerez Airport Director, passed away Standard

Rafael de Reyna

We have been terribly shocked by the piece of news from Diario de Cádiz which informs that Mr. Rafael de Reyna, Jerez Airport Director since June 2011, passed away last Friday at the age of 53. Mr. De Reyna was Head of Spanish slot coordination between 1994 and 1997. We thank him very much for his labor during that time in which slot coordination in Spain was transferred from Iberia to Aena. We also thank him for his work in Jerez airport and in the other different posts he had in Aena and Enaire. Our thoughts are with him, his family and…

Catalan NOx tax collection to commence Standard

EasyJet above Barcelona by Victor - flickr

On 18th January the Catalan Authorities published that the payment procedure for the NOx tax had been approved through Law 12/2014 on 10th October. We had already anticipated the hightlights of this Law that came into force with effect 1st January 2015. Payment must be arranged between 1st and 20th February through the Generalitat de Cataluña website. We have also learnt that IATA is opposed to this tax and they are taking actions against the Catalan Government. A full explanation regarding its position can be found here.

Air Europa Express: Globalia’s low cost airline expected for March 2016 Standard

Air Europa's Embraer 195LR with the new livery by Martin J. Gallego - Flickr

Aeronova is a small Spanish airline based in Valencia that was acquired by Globalia – Air Europa’s owner – at the beginning of this month. This was reported by LasProvincias on November, 8. On Tuesday, Preferente.com announced that Globalia will now convert this airline into Air Europa Express in order to operate their regional flights. The information was relayed by Álvaro Middelmann, former Air Berlin director for Spain and now consultant for Air Europa. The airline is expected to start operations around March 2016. Its home bases will be Madrid and Palma. Despite being a part of Globalia, the new airline will be independent from Air Europa….

Air Berlin to close Palma hub in the first quarter of 2016 Standard

Air Berlin 737-700 in Palma de Mallorca by Colin Cooke Photo - Flickr

Last Tuesday, Air Berlin’s board approved the cancellation of the whole domestic flight network that they operate in Spain. This means all connections between Palma and other Spanish destination will no longer operate. Hence, the German airline will close their hub between Spain and Europe. The information was revealed by ElMundo on Friday. According to their sources the first destinations where the airline is to stop operating will be Ibiza, Alicante, Seville and Valencia. These routes will have been cancelled by the end of January 2016. The remainder of routes, i.e. Málaga, Jerez, Bilbao and Faro (Portugal), will be cancelled at the end…