The ENAIRE Foundation announces the winners of the 2025 Aeronautical Awards

The jury of the ENAIRE Foundation Awards has delivered its verdict for the aeronautical awards of its thirtieth edition, recognising the excellence and work of those engaged in research, innovation and communication in the aeronautical and space sector.

The winners will receive the award at an institutional ceremony to be held in January 2026.

In this edition, the jury, made up of 17 renowned experts from different fields from ENAIRE and Aena, as well as from the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, together with Spanish universities and the Air and Space Force, assessed 51 entries and 63 works submitted.

The winners will receive their awards at an institutional ceremony to be held in January 2026. All awards are endowed with €10,000, and the Undergraduate Final Project Award and the Master’s Final Project Award with €5,000 each.

“These awards are helping to drive innovation and research, recognising excellence in the aeronautical sector, which is an economic and job-creating engine”, says Margarita Asuar, Managing Director of the ENAIRE Foundation. “Rewarding research, innovation and excellence in the aeronautical sector is a priority for the ENAIRE Foundation, and these awards should also serve to encourage young people to pursue their studies and professional careers in this exciting field”, Asuar concludes.

Five award categories

Aviation Journalism Award

Every year, this award recognises works of journalism that are disseminated in the press, radio, television, and on digital and online publications that are related to air transport and navigation, as well as those involving airport facilities and airport services in general.

The award was granted to Ion Larrañaga Gurruchaga, Iñaki Leturia Yurrita and Beñardo Kortabarria Olabarria for their television programme ‘At Bilbao Airport’ on Euskal Telebista (ETB2). The jury highlighted that the programme explains all the operational areas of Bilbao Airport and was broadcast in April 2024.

Manuel Abejón Space Award 

This award seeks to encourage and recognise works or studies that constitute a distinctive and practical contribution to their application in air mobility and in air and space transport.

On this occasion, the jury awarded the prize to Francisco Ángel Espartero Briceño for his research ‘Robotic Satellite Observatory’. This work details the design of a Robotic Satellite Observatory for detecting and tracking objects in near-Earth orbit that could impact the Earth if their trajectory were to deviate.

Luis Azcárraga Aeronautical Innovation Award 

Presented annually, it acknowledges work, studies or projects that offer a major contribution to air transport in terms of planning and organisation, economic and administrative management, environmental impact and protection, as well as technological research and innovation.

In this category, the winners were Raul Quiben Figueroa, Rauno Cavallaro and Andrea Cini for their publication ‘Feasibility studies on regional aircraft retrofitted with hybrid-electric powertrains’. The jury ruled in favour of this work for its feasibility in installing hybrid-electric propulsion systems following experimental trials on an ATR42.

I+DRON Award

Presented annually, it recognises those technical works, studies, projects, papers or publications that make a unique contribution to innovation in the drone sector, in the fields of aircraft design and aircraft system technologies (including propulsion, communications, control, etc.), drone production, operation, and traffic management, as well as the development of new applications.

This year's prize was awarded to Ander Maiztegi for the project 'Zeru Drones: Autonomous 5G platform for the creation of intelligent infrastructures for continuous territorial observation’. The jury took a positive view of the fact that the company submitting the project, Zerudrones, is a startup established in June 2024 specialising in environmental monitoring and inspection using drones.

Undergraduate and Master’s Final Project Awards

This is an annual prize to reward Bachelor's or Master's degree projects related to air navigation or airports in the following disciplines: Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering (especially the branch of Roads, Canals and Ports), and Industrial and Telecommunications Engineering. These projects may be done at any Spanish university and written in any of our official languages or in English.

In the Airports category, the winner was Fernando Real Rojas for his Undergraduate Final Project ‘Design of transport networks: integrating modal competition with convex optimisation techniques’. The jury noted that this undergraduate project addresses the design of transport networks through the use of convex optimisation tools, proposing novel formulations that make it possible to efficiently model and integrate into the optimisation both infrastructure construction and operating costs and user preferences.

Meanwhile, in the Air Navigation category, the winning project was by Sara Ruano Ferrer for her Master’s Final Project, ‘Development of a Mathematical Model for STAM Measures Optimal Application’. The jury underlined that this research focuses on the development of a mathematical model that optimises very short-term airspace management in order to alleviate airspace congestion.

About ENAIRE Foundation

Is a cultural institution of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility that, in addition to managing, preserving and exhibiting the ENAIRE Collection of Contemporary Art, engages in a comprehensive annual programme of activities that focus on aeronautical art and culture. Notably, it is one of the institutions that currently provides the most support to photography through its annual prizes - which have become a benchmark for professional photographers - and by hosting exhibits.

It is the only foundation in Spain that combines the two seemingly disparate themes of art and aeronautical culture, bringing them together by undertaking a programme of activities that promote the study, research, knowledge and dissemination of aeronautical culture, integrating history and modernity to raise awareness of the world of aviation in our country.

The Naves de Gamazo are the first permanent home of the ENAIRE Collection of Contemporary Art, an example of collaboration between government agencies that was made possible thanks to the partnership and joint efforts of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, the Government of Cantabria, through the Office for Culture, Tourism and Sport, and the Port Authority of Santander, which share the operating expenses of the centre in order to ensure the present and future viability of this cultural project.

ENAIRE Foundation is implementing digital museum resources to boost the democratisation of art and make it accessible from anywhere in the world. These new museum resources are now available on the Foundation's website: https://fundacionenaire.es/

About ENAIRE 

ENAIRE is the air navigation service provider in Spain.

As a company of the Ministry of Sustainable Transport and Mobility, it provides air traffic control services during the en route and approach phases of all flights to and from Spain and overflights. In addition, it manages communications, navigation and surveillance services from ENAIRE in the airspace and the entire AENA airport network in Spain and provides aerodrome air traffic control services in 21 airports, including the busiest.

ENAIRE is the fourth largest European air navigation service provider, and it is a member of international partnerships A6 Alliance, SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, iTEC, CANSO (Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation) and collaborates closely with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization).

ENAIRE has obtained the highest rating in the key performance indicator for air safety at European scale for six consecutive years, the last five with the maximum possible score of 100%. It has also been awarded the EFQM 600 Seal for its safe, efficient, innovative and sustainable management of air navigation services.