In 1990, the Spanish Government led by Felipe González (PSOE) passed Law 4/1990 to establish an autonomous business management model for the airport sector and, in 1991, created the public entity Aena (Spanish Airports and Air Navigation) to unify airport construction, maintenance and air navigation control under a single brand.
In 2014, the Spanish Government led by Mariano Rajoy (PP) created the entity ENAIRE, which retains exclusive control over air navigation and air traffic throughout the State and became the owner of the brand Aena SA, which remained focused on the commercial operation of airports.
In 2015, the Rajoy Government (PP) privatised and floated 49% of Aena on the stock exchange, while the remaining 51% was kept under public control through ENAIRE. Aena thus became part of Spain’s benchmark stock market index, the IBEX-35 and began an internationalisation process, which, according to data from January 2025, has led it to control the commercial operation of 48 airports in Spain and 34 abroad under various arrangements (wholly owned, concessions, joint ventures, etc.); 17 airports in Brazil (Recife, Maceió, Aracaju, João Pessoa, Campina Grande, Juazeiro do Norte, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Campo Grande, Uberlândia, Santarém, Marabá, Montes Claros, Carajás, Altamira, Uberaba, Corumbá and Ponta Porã); 12 in Mexico (Guadalajara, Tijuana, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Hermosillo, León/Bajío, Morelia, Aguascalientes, Mexicali, La Paz, Los Mochis and Manzanillo); 2 in Colombia (Cartagena de Indias and Cali); 2 in Jamaica (Montego Bay and Kingston); and 1 in the United Kingdom (London Luton).
The three PP figures who organised and spearheaded the grand scheme behind the privatisation of 49% of Aena were: Ana Pastor (Minister of Public Works), Rafael Catalá Polo (Secretary of State for Infrastructure), Luis de Guindos (Minister of Economy and Competitiveness, who had already played a decisive role in the dismantling of the savings banks in favour of the major IBEX-35 banks), and José Manuel Vargas, appointed Chairman of Aena in 2012 by Rajoy, who entrusted him with the mission of paving the way for the sale through highly aggressive and traumatic restructuring measures. Aena’s main private shareholders, recruited by Rafael Catalá, included the US investment funds BlackRock (4.05%), the UK-based asset management firm Veritas Asset Management LLP (3.78%), the British investment fund TCI Fund Management (2.84%) led by Christopher Hohn, The Goldman Sachs Group (2.82%), Vanguard Group, iShares, etc.
Following the 2015 privatisation, Mallorca’s main gateway came under even greater control by outsiders than it had been before as the major foreign investment funds today, mainly American and British, are the ones calling the shots and imposing their draconian conditions on Aena’s Board of Directors, even though the Spanish State still holds a majority 51% stake. The airports of the Balearic Islands — Son Sant Joan and Son Bonet in Mallorca, Menorca Airport and Es Codolar in Ibiza — were subjected to Aena’s absolute colonial rule prior to the 2015 privatisation; now, thanks to the PP and the complicity of the PSOE, they are in an even worse position, left at the mercy of foreign predators and sharks operating from behind the desks of their offices in New York and London.
As stated, the 2015 privatisation was the work and machination of the Rajoy Government. However, when Pedro Sánchez became President of the Government of Spain in 2018 following a vote of no confidence, he replaced Aena’s CEO, Jaime García-Legaz (Murcia, 1968), who had been appointed by the PP and had previously served as Secretary-General of the FAES Foundation and had, in turn, replaced José Manuel Vargas Gómez (Madrid, 1970), with former PSC-PSOE MP Maurici Lucena Betriu (Barcelona, 1975). Yet, the way Aena was run and managed did not change. On the contrary, Lucena’s eight years as Chairman have served to prove that the PP and PSOE fully agree that Spanish airports must be managed according to the following four criteria:
Aena must remain faithful to the traditional concept of what a company should be and to the patterns of Spain as it has always been, in other words, it must be ultra-centralist, pyramidal, nostalgic for imperial glories in the style of FAES, more inclined towards rigid protocols rather than innovation, etc.
The “common pot” system must be maintained so that the overexploitation of large, profitable terminals (Barcelona, Palma, Málaga, Las Palmas, Tenerife South, Alicante, Ibiza…) not only cross-subsidises the loss-making airports across the State, but also backs Aena’s pharaonic and neocolonial ventures in Brazil, Jamaica, Colombia, Mexico, the United Kingdom…
The Aena brand model must be further developed; that is, airports must be transformed into macro-terminals embedded within vast shopping centres packed with perfume, clothing and shoe shops, all kinds of alcoholic beverages, duty-free shops, bars, restaurants, ice cream parlours, car parks, along with hotels, meeting rooms, and even nightclubs, as is already intended for Ibiza.
Outsourcing, privatization and downward subcontracting of auxiliary services (healthcare, cleaning…), private security, runway maintenance, handling workers (baggage), ground handling services and the liberalisation of control towers, etc. must be intensified.
