Public Works Minister announces 11.5% cut in ENAIRE route charges for 2018-2020 period

Measures to save carriers an estimated €184Mn

Minister for Public Works Íñigo de la Serna today announced an 11.5% cumulative reduction in ENAIRE’s air-navigation route charges for the 2018-2020. The announcement was made at the opening of the 2017 World ATM Congress.

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The charges, which have been frozen since 2012, will come down by 3% in 2018, 4% in 2019 and 5% in 2020.

The measure will save air carriers an estimated €184Mn.

The decision was possible thanks to ENAIRE’s efficiency drive which will allow it to pass on benefits to airlines and they in turn, hopefully, to passengers.

In line with the DORA reduction in airport charges

With this goal and as far as Aena is concerned, on 27 January the Spanish cabinet approved the preliminary Airport Regulation Document (DORA, in Spanish) for the 2017-2021 period, providing for a charge reduction, in this case at airports, of a cumulative figure of 11% for the period as a whole, at the rate of 2.2% per year.

Carmen Librero, up for consideration as EUROCONTROL chief executive

The minister also announced the presentation of Spain’s candidacy, in the form of Carmen Librero, the current secretary-general for Transport at the Ministry of Public Works, to the position of chief executive of EUROCONTROL, the European organisation for air navigation safety.

Mr de la Serna said that Ms Librero’s candidacy is vouchsafed by her 30-year history in the field of air navigation, her five-plus years as secretary-general for Transport, her background as an aeronautical engineer and her professional and personal worth.

Excellent aeronautical infrastructure network

The minister also said that Spain has the most competitive tourism industry in the world thanks to the rail, port, road and aeronautical infrastructures that allow 80% of tourists to enter the country by air.

He said that ENAIRE is one of the air-navigation managers that contributes the most to air traffic growth across Europe.

Mr de la Serna said that air traffic is set to grow over coming years. ENAIRE has had 41 months of uninterrupted air traffic growth, with 1,867,734 flights in 2016, a figure expected to grow substantially to 1.9 million in 2017.

World air navigation event

The World ATM Congress is the major annual event for the international aeronautical community. The forum, held in Spain for the fifth year in a row at the Ifema trade grounds, discusses the current sector situation and the principal ATM developments to be implemented going forward.

From 7 to 9 March, the event will welcome 7,000 professionals from 125 countries, 225 aeronautical sector firms and 79 air navigation providers.

The Congress is promoted by the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) which brings together ATC providers from across the world, and by ATCA, the US industry institution.

Over these three days, conferences are held and there is a free exhibition open to the public where businesses and industry organise displays to showcase the latest ATC technologies and the products they sell.

The Ministry of Public Works business group is represented at the Congress by ENAIRE, Ineco and Senasa with a shared stand featuring their projects, agreements and most significant results.

Public Works Group stand

The Ministry of Public Works business group presents a joint stand by ENAIRE, Ineco and Senasa at the 2017 World ATM Congress.

ENAIRE presents two control positions so that visitors can interact at the stand as if they were an air traffic controller. The first is called VICTOR position, a simulated position of the Palma Control Tower that works without paper files.

The second position on display is GAMMA. This is proprietary ENAIRE software for ATCO training. Visitors will be able to simulate take-off authorisations from runway 36 left at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport and talk with pseudo-pilots.

Ineco will use the stand to special projects the company is currently engaged on: the Galileo GNSS service centre; the design of flight procedures in Oman and support for ENAIRE in researching new airspace concepts.

Senasa will showcase its training capacity, principally in control matters, and explain the operation of some of the outreach tools the company has developed to promote its courses.