The Minister of Public Works, Housing and Mobility, Pablo Rodríguez, has regretted this Tuesday the increase of airport fees by 6.5% from 2026, "a bad decision" by Aena, and has valued the "key work" of Ryanair to connect the Canary Islands with some capitals.
In the plenary session of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Rodríguez argued that "any decision" taken on airport policy has "a direct impact" on connectivity and mobility in the archipelago, which is the national territory "that most depends" on ports and airports.
And in this case, the "unilateral" increase in fees by Aena, regardless of whether the places that Ryanair will stop operating "can be resolved" with what other companies offer, has been "a bad decision" that not only "affects tourism, but, above all, the mobility of residents."
"Losing connectivity is losing opportunities for those of us who live here," said Pablo Rodríguez, who has once again demanded that the Canary Islands "participate with voice and vote" in airport management, which "is not an idea," but is contemplated in the Statute of Autonomy.
Asked by the nationalist deputy José Manuel Bermúdez what the Government of the Canary Islands is going to do to put this into practice, the councilor has stated that he will "demand that it be fulfilled" through the development in the Cortes Generales of a law to that effect.
Regarding Ryanair's decision to reduce 10% of its capacity in the Canary Islands, some 400,000 flights, and to stop operating in Tenerife Norte, Pablo Rodríguez has indicated that regardless of the fact that this airline does not generate "much sympathy" in the airport environment or among many users, "it was doing a very key and decisive job to connect with some capitals."
He has spoken of specific cases of elderly people born in Galicia and established in the Canary Islands who traveled to their land at Christmas or in summer and who "today will not be able to fly to Santiago because that flight -from Ryanair- has been canceled."
"We have to think that it is important to have good prices, good planes, but above all a lot of connectivity and to have equal conditions" as residents in the peninsula, or almost.
The PP deputy David Morales has described the increase in fees by Aena as "kamikaze" and has expressed his fear of a "chaotic drift" of the airport system similar to the one he believes the national railway network suffers.
José Manuel Bermúdez (CC) has indicated for his part that the increase in fees is "an outrage" to the Canary Islands and represents "a violation" of the Statute of Autonomy and the right to mobility of the Canarians.
