The President and CEO of Aena, Maurici Lucena, has assured that the company will propose increases in airport charges of less than 6% until 2031, following the authorization of the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) to apply a 6.44% increase as of March 2026.
In statements to the newspaper Expansión, reported by Europa Press, Lucena defended a policy of tariff moderation for the period between 2027 and 2031, in a context of strong growth in air traffic and results close to record highs for the airport operator.
The top executive of Aena has stressed that the rates will have to increase “moderately” in order to be able to face the record investment plan of 12,888 million euros planned to modernize the Spanish airport network during the five-year period 2027-2031. Although he did not specify the exact increase, he pointed out that the annual rise could be between 3% and 5%, as opposed to the freeze or even reduction applied during the last decade.
Lucena insisted that, despite these increases, airport tariffs in Spain will continue to be “among the lowest in Europe” and assured that the company has “plenty of room” to increase its level of indebtedness if necessary.
In this new scenario of greater investment and debt, Aena’s chairman considers it compatible to maintain the current 80% pay out, to finance all the actions of the third Airport Regulation Document (DORA III) through a combination of capital and debt, as well as to undertake some international operations, if the right conditions are met.
In relation to the conflict with Ryanair, Lucena pointed out that in Europe the consensus is spreading that an excessive dependence on the Irish airline, “given its behavior”, is not always positive. In this sense, he acknowledged that the recovery of the routes abandoned by the low cost airline will be slow and defended the model of joint management between airports.
On the operational level, Aena closed 2025 with levels close to historical records, with forecasts of around 320 million passengers in the Spanish network and close to 100 million international tourists, far exceeding the figures prior to the pandemic.
For 2026, expectations point to a new all-time high, driven by airline seat scheduling and the consolidated recovery of the sector. In the first nine months of the year, Spanish network airports recorded 247.1 million passengers, 3.9% more than in the same period of the previous year.
