AENA privatisation could lead to 10-year airport tax freeze
Wednesday, February 4, 2015 @ 12:16 PM
PRIVATISING Spain’s airport governing body, AENA, will lead to terminal taxes being frozen for up to 10 years – a move that would significantly reduce future air travel to and from the country, says Balearic Island regional tourism boss Jaime Martínez.
“This is something none of Spain’s competitors in the tourism market will have,” Martínez said in the regional Parliament this week.
Other parties in the Balearic Islands, such as MÉS, say privatisation of AENA is a form of ‘exploitation’ whilst the regional socialists, the PSIB, does not believe the move will bring many benefits to residents in Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.
Martínez, however, stresses that privatisation of airports is becoming a ‘global trend’, and is already the norm in countries such as Germany and France.
Socialist MP Damià Borràs wanted to know if privatising AENA would ‘lead to more flights and meaningful jobs’, and whether it would increase tourism to the islands.
“Is the government’s priority the people of the Balearics, and Spain as a whole, or just making money?” He asked.
MÉS spokesman David Abril said privatising AENA would mean a company ‘which belonged to everyone and ran at a profit’ would ‘wind up in the hands of a select few’.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com