Menorca flights face higher fares without Aena

Air fares for Menorca residents could rise if Aena is broken up, trade union CCOO warned on Friday. Ramón Carreras, CCOO's Balearic Islands representative within the airport operator, said higher airport charges would be the first result. His intervention comes as Parliament prepares to debate a law on shared airport management after the central government withdrew its veto.

Carreras challenged the case made by Més per Menorca and the Balearic Government for greater regional involvement in running airports. He said Aena pays for itself through airport charges and income from businesses operating at its sites, rather than costing the public purse money.

Charges and air fares

Splitting Aena up would make it more expensive to run and create further problems, Carreras argued. In his view, the operator would lose money, charges would have to increase and residents would then face pricier tickets.

He also rejected the claim that Aena is behind tourist overcrowding. He pointed to Ibiza Airport, which handled 9.13 million passengers in 2025, and Menorca Airport, with 4.21 million that year. The islands are similar in size but have developed very differently economically, he said.

Who controls the number of flights

The proposed law would not give a regional operator control over flight numbers, Carreras said. Take-off and landing slots — the time windows assigned to airlines — are set by the Spanish Association for the Coordination and Facilitation of Time Slots, known as Aefca. It uses each airport's declared capacity and airlines' historic rights.

Carreras said Aena, which he described as the world's largest airport operator, has more bargaining power than a regional body and that connectivity would not improve under the plan.

Instead, he called for the reversal of Aena's 49 per cent privatisation in 2015, more staff and new infrastructure, including a control tower at Menorca Airport. He said tackling tourist overcrowding required rules on holiday lets, intervention in the housing market, fewer vehicles and a shift towards more sustainable sectors — areas he said fall mainly to the autonomous community and local councils.

Topics: Jobs & labour · Housing · Tourism · Economy

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com