The president of the Spanish Airline Association (ALA), Javier Gándara, has issued a warning that several airlines may be forced to reduce routes or the number of flights to and from the Canary Islands if the Spanish government continues to delay reimbursement payments for resident travel subsidies.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, he criticised the insufficient budget allocation for these subsidies, which benefit residents of the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla. According to ALA, the government still owes €425 million from 2024, and a further €1.25 billion is expected to accrue in 2025. However, the General State Budget (PGE) for 2025 allocates just €560 million, unchanged from the previous year.
The ALA calculates that once the €385 million already paid for 2024 is deducted from the current year’s budget, only €175 million remains to cover both the outstanding debt from 2024 and the entirety of the 2025 subsidy obligations. Gándara made it clear that this is not an administrative or bureaucratic delay but rather a shortfall in funding from the Ministry of Finance. Without an increase in the budget, he warned, some airlines will have no choice but to cut services.
He stressed that such reductions could threaten the strong connectivity currently enjoyed by the islands. Since before the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines have significantly increased their capacity: by 13% to the Balearic Islands (amounting to 55 million seats in 2024) and by 18% to the Canary Islands (62 million seats).
The situation raises concerns not only for the airlines but also for the residents who rely on up to 75% subsidised travel for essential connections between the mainland and the islands.
