Iberia, Lufthansa and Vueling demand $1 billion from Aena

Aena and airlines through the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Spain have opened several procedures in which at least 3.5 billion euros are at stake. This is Ena’s demand for compensation.Sado because of the consequences of the pandemic (according to one estimate, 2,500 million) and the companies’ resources for airport taxes, in which several billion are at stake in the period 2023-2025. The main IATA partners operating in Spain are Iberia, Vueling, British Airways, Air Europa, Binter, Volotea, Air France, KLM and Lufthansa, among others.

While the first issue appears to be the most important due to the amount (see attached information), sources close to Aena and the airlines agree that due to the potential for prosperity and its long-term implications, the most important issue is tariffs. .

There are two main differences that will be resolved in court. The first concerns administrative proceedings in the National Court and concerns the health and safety costs that Ene has had to incur to combat Covid. Airlines say the costs are already built into the 2022 fare, so fares for subsequent years should be calculated on a 2022 basis, discounting Covid costs.

Another point relates to the annual application of the airport tax renewal formula. The airlines argue that a 2014 law governing Aena – when it went public – means that, in practice, fares cannot rise (but can be reduced) until 2025 inclusive.

Uncontrollable expenses

The main problem is growth in 2024, which was 4.09%, 0.59 points due to improved service delivery by Aena and 3.5 points due to increased external costs, over which the group chaired by Maurici Lucena has no control (P factor), mainly energy and inflation in general.

The P factor of more than 1% was due to be approved by the Council of Ministers on January 30, with fares remaining at the current level of €10.35 per passenger.

Court and Supreme

The issue of tariffs is considered in two areas. On the one hand, the decisions of the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) are being appealed to the National Court of Justice, in which it authorizes the increases for 2023 and 2024. In addition, IATA also submitted the P factor to the Supreme Court – which accepted it for processing – since it is a decision of the Council of Ministers.

The airlines argue that the increases in recent years have gone beyond the legal framework, so the additional costs they are calculating for the period 2023-2025 amount to around one billion euros. The P factor and Covid costs are weighted similarly in these reports.

The sector also argues that what it believes is a miscalculation of rates affects future payouts as they will be calculated on a higher basis (equivalent to 300 million per year forever). They also criticize that Aena has not made enough efforts to improve efficiency and that record 2023 profits of €1.631 million and a dividend distribution of €1.149 million prove post hoc that the pandemic crisis was not that severe.

Tariffs price

The sector says fares should now be €9.14 per passenger, up from €10.40 now.

On the other hand, Aena believes that it can increase costs that it cannot afford (the P factor), as well as indicators that measure the quality of its services; He claims that efficiency has improved and claims that the CNMC supervisor agreed with him by authorizing the increase.

He also explained that today’s fares are 6.9% lower than in 2015, the first year in which no fare increases were applied, and that the 2024 increase of 0.4 euros per passenger will have little effect on the ticket price. ticket.