Airlines say connectivity with the Canary Islands is in danger due to non-payment of subsidies

Airlines warn that the Government's non-payments for ticket subsidies to residents of the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Ceuta or Melilla may cause the airlines that connect with the peninsula to stop operating some routes or reduce their frequencies.

The Airline Association (ALA) denounces the non-payment of 810 million euros as of January 2025 to the airlines that operate these routes for the amounts advanced as subsidies to residents of 75% on the price of tickets.

If no measures are taken in the face of a situation that it describes as "unsustainable and of economic suffocation", ALA fears that this debt will rise to 1,500 million this year with some extended General State Budgets (PGE).

The association points out that the Executive "has delayed the settlement during 2024, increasing the amount owed to the airlines that provide these services".

From the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility they explain that "it is a specific administrative issue that is not going to affect the service" and that the bonuses for residents "are guaranteed".

Likewise, the ministry reduces the amount owed from 2024 to about 300 million euros and assures that, "as progress is made in closing the certifications and all administrative procedures are completed, the amounts will be paid".

According to ALA, the Government allocated 560.81 million in the budgets for 2023 in subsidies to air traffic, an amount that "has been widely exceeded by a demand for these aids above what was planned", they add.

To this amount are added another 170 million through the Contingency Fund to finance credit modifications, but ALA assures that "it has fallen short and an important sum of 'hundreds of millions' remains to be paid to cover the amounts advanced by the airlines in respect of subsidies".

ALA highlights the increase in air connectivity in these regions. Thus, it adds that "the capacity offer on routes between the Canary Islands and the peninsula has reached 61.81 million seats in 2024, which represents 9.6% compared to 2023 and 18% compared to 2019".

In the case of connections between the Balearic Islands and the peninsula, 55 million seats were offered in 2024, 6% more than in 2023 and 12.85% above 2019.