Miguel Praga

✈ Ryanair criticizes Aena for deceiving about fees, ignoring DGAC's 2021 resolution to freeze tariffs for five years. CNMC intervention keeps fees frozen in 2025, yet above DGAC's planned rates. Ryanair highlights Valladolid's passenger fees as higher than those at more efficient airports in Italy and Poland. Ryanair claims Aena's statement that they pay €2 per passenger at any Spanish regional airport is false. No new Ryanair bases in Spain since 2016 due to high fees; contrasts 8 million passengers in Málaga with zero in Granada. On December 13, 2024, Minister Puente acknowledged the failure of Aena's incentive schemes to increase regional traffic. Ryanair urges the Spanish government to break Aena's monopoly and let regional authorities manage airports to boost traffic, tourism, and employment.

✈ Lufthansa must continue offering fair prices to Condor for connections from German cities to Frankfurt, as ruled by the European Commission, to maintain competitiveness. Condor, once owned by Lufthansa and later Thomas Cook, struggled post-pandemic and post-Thomas Cook bankruptcy. A British investment fund acquired Condor, improved its fleet, and now successfully transports passengers from Germany to the U.S. and Caribbean via Frankfurt. Lufthansa, introducing its own airline Discovery and ending fair prices to Condor, faced legal challenges. However, the European Commission intervention mandates maintaining beneficial agreements for Condor temporarily while reviewing dominant airline agreements on transatlantic routes.

✈ Ryanair cuts over 800,000 seats at regional airports in Spain, including closures in Valladolid and Jerez, blaming Aena's high fees and ineffective incentive plans. Aena refutes, stating the average fee of €10.35 per passenger remains frozen from March 1 and is one of Europe's lowest. Despite Ryanair's 8.7% activity increase in Spanish airports in 2024, Aena warns their demands could breach Law 18/2014 and potentially be illegal or considered state aid by the EU. Regional airports offer incentives that can lower fees to around €2 per passenger.