AENA tax increase will make flights more expensive to the Canary Islands

Councils, local businessmen, and political parties in the Canary Islands have been in uproar this week as they are against the increase of 4.1% in airport taxes announced by AENA. The Minister of Tourism for the Canary Islands, Jessica de León, expressed the regional government’s "resounding rejection" of this increase because "it will have a negative impact on the tourism competitiveness of the islands."

"Any tax that increases prices of plane tickets before a consumer, who is already increasingly sensitive to the final price of their holiday, is not good news for the Canary Islands because it will make us less competitive and put travellers off.”

On Thursday, the new president of the Tenerife Cabildo, Rosa Dávila said that, if this increase were carried out, the acting Government of Spain "would be sacrificing the competitiveness of the sector and the Canary Islands as a tourist destination.”

She added that they would be acting in favour of AENA who have already doubled profits in the first half of 2023 compared to the first six months of 2022, going from 277 million euros to 607 million euros.

Dávila said that this decision is a "setback" for the tourism sector of the Islands and, of Tenerife in particular, which receives around five million people by air each year. She said that she agrees that this announcement is at a time of economic uncertainty throughout Europe, the main issuer of tourists for the islands, and that a rise in rates will lead to an increase in the prices of flights, “fully affecting” the main economic sector of the islands.

The national secretary of Coalicion Canarias, David Toledo, emphasized that if this increase is approved in a general way for the entire country, the acting Government "would be sacrificing the competitiveness of the Canary Islands to support AENA".

“It is a ‘jug of cold water’ for the tourism sector and for the island’s economy at a time of economic uncertainty marked by rising prices and the fiscal adjustments that Europe is planning." For this reason, he has ensured that CC will defend the Canary Islands being exempt from any price increase taking into account, not only the condition of the outermost region and the impact of the price increase, but also the fact that AENA has some of its most profitable airports in the Archipelago.

The businessmen of Tenerife are also opposed:
The Círculo de Empresarios y Profesionales del Sur de Tenerife (CEST) said that the announcement is a “new speculative movement by AENA at the expense of the recovery of the tourism sector after the pandemic”.

The president of CEST, Javier Cabrera, says he is convinced that this increase will have an impact "where it always does: in the price of flight tickets and, therefore, in the pockets of travellers".

“AENA has had a debt for many years with the Canary Islands. Despite the fact that three of the airports on the islands are among the most profitable in Spain, including Tenerife South, they continue to play with the future of the Canary Islands because of their desire to collect money, in an act that constitutes a clear movement whose sole purpose is the satisfaction of its shareholders”, he stated.

In addition, he also agrees that this decision "puts the competitiveness of the Canary Islands as a tourist destination at risk because this increase is added to the difficult economic situation of the main markets that send tourists to the Canary Islands”, in line with what was expressed by Rosa Dávila and Jessica de León.