ACI EUROPE strongly in the last days rebutted IATA’s call for the Spanish airport operator, AENA, to reduce its charges by 22% over the next 5 years (2027-2031) while still maintaining its €13 billion investment plan over the same period. 

The airport association delivered a robust reality check, pointing to the following facts:

The charges paid by airlines for the use of AENA’s airports have decreased by -7% in nominal terms over the past 10 years (2015-2025), actually resulting in a -36% decrease in real terms.

Meanwhile airfares in Spain have increased by +40% since 2019 – revealing what has for years been clearly established: changes in airport charges are not passed through to consumers, as airlines always seek to exercise their pricing power. This means that airlines’ calls for reductions in airport charges are all about protecting their bottom line.

AENA’s €13 billion investment plan aimed at modernising and developing the capacity of the Spanish airport network cannot be delivered without adjusting its user charges to reflect both inflationary pressures and capital costs. 

AENA’s proposed +3.8% annual increase from 2027 to 2031 (amounting to an increase of 43 cent per passenger) is fair, reasonable and grounded in economic reality – especially as regards inflationary pressures.

A central point in IATA’s claim that AENA’s investment plan is compatible with a decrease in its user charges relates to an alleged underestimation of future traffic growth by AENA. While IATA asserts passenger traffic will grow at an annual average of +3.6% by 2031, AENA’s forecast at +1.3% reflects the combination of:

Existing and mounting capacity limitations at several of its airports.

Supply chain disruptions and aircraft maintenance challenges which according to IATA will keep constraining aircraft capacity deployment and thus traffic growth in the coming years. 

The “normalisation” of traffic growth at lower levels due to a mix of structural factors including market maturity, changed demand and ESG pressures.

See for details AVIONEWS.