Airline Employers Association goes to Supreme Court to demand $1 billion from Aena over fare hikes | Companies

A routine tariff dispute between airlines and Aena has reached the Supreme Court with a multi-million dollar claim from the Iata association, which represents the main users of Spanish airports such as Iberia, Vueling, Volotea, Air France, Air Europa, Lufthansa, etc. The accepted claim is approx. €1 billion due to the way the 2023 rate increase was calculated, taking effect this year and being consolidated until at least the end of 2025.

Double lawsuit against Ena reported this morning Extension, focuses on translating the airport manager’s losses during the pandemic into tariffs, amounting to around €2.5 billion. Regarding health and safety costs incurred to combat Covid-19, airline officials say they have already motivated rate increases in 2022, denying they could be carried forward to subsequent years.

Secondly, IATA considers that the public company did not calculate its rates correctly and that they should not have been subject to any changes until at least 2025, as regulated by the sixth transitional provision of Law 18/2014. That’s because the government and the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) have acknowledged the validity of Aena’s proposal by adjusting upward costs such as energy included in the so-called P rate index introduced after the Russian invasion. Ukraine. At the same time, the prices that travelers pay for airport taxes rose by 4.09% (40 cents per passenger) in March last year. And a new escalation is seen, albeit much less pronounced, in 2025 following Aena’s proposal to update regulated costs at 0.54%, which has already received CNMC approval.

Two different ships

The impact of additional costs associated with this year’s rates is estimated by IATA at €1 billion and is being blamed in the Supreme Court for having passed through the hands of the Council of Ministers. A previous claim regarding the effects of the pandemic was settled in the National Court.

Aena President Maurici Lucena says the public company’s rates are the most competitive in Europe and that the update has not stopped traffic from reaching record levels. The 40 cents per passenger added to fares this year equates to around €115 million for Aena in one year (based on 283 million travelers in 2023).

Aena’s maximum adjusted annual revenue per passenger (IMAAJ) is €10.35, up from the previous €9.95. The Airlines Association (ALA) acknowledged that Spain has supported the sector for a decade by freezing or reducing tariffs since 2014, while European airports such as Amsterdam or London have increased their tariffs by double digits. But ALA also stressed that airlines were heavily indebted due to the health crisis and now need to make financial efforts to reduce leverage.

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