The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called out proposals by AENA to increase charges at the 46 airports it operates across Spain.
IATA says it will harm the economic recovery and stymie an employment rebound in aviation and travel.
The proposals include a request to increase charges by 5.5% over five years.
They would also open the door for AENA to recover its lost revenues due to the Covid-19 crisis, for services which were never operated, or which airlines couldn’t access.
"The whole aviation industry is in crisis. Everybody needs to reduce costs and improve efficiency to repair the financial damage of Covid-19. Having analyzed AENA’s situation, airlines believe that AENA could reduce its charges by 4%," said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
"So proposing to pass the burden of financial recovery on to customers with a 5.5% increase is nothing short of irresponsible."
"AENA can easily finance short-term losses without increasing costs to its customers. It has an excellent credit rating to access financing. Its shareholders have been well-rewarded and must now share some of the pain," said Walsh.
Passenger demand sank 76% in 2020 and is not expected to fully recover until 2024, while the number of destinations with direct links to Spain fell from 1,800 in 2019 to only 234 in 2020.
More than 1.1 million Spanish jobs have been lost or put at risk and more than €60 billion of GDP has been lost.
The contribution of travel and tourism to Spain’s economy fell from 12% to 4%.
"An early recovery in travel and tourism is vital for Spain’s economic success. But higher costs will delay a tourism rebound and keep jobs at risk," said Walsh.
