AIRPORT taxes for next year will go down by 12% - three times as much as initially planned – in a bid to encourage growth in the air travel industry.
According to minister for public works Íñigo de la Serna, taxes – which were frozen for 2017 – will still only go down by 3% in 2018 as originally announced and by 5% in 2020, but for 2019 they will be slashed by 12% instead of the 4% agreed at first.
De la Serna made this announcement during the opening ceremony of the World Air Travel Management Conference, and said these reductions would means Spain's airport taxes became the lowest in the European Union.
Last year saw a record number of foreign tourists arrive in Spain by air – in fact, Enaire, the mother company of airports governing body AENA, reported 52 consecutive months of increases in arrivals.
Airport taxes normally directly affect the price of flights, and they also influence carriers' operational decisions, including whether or not to set up new or keep existing bases in Spain.
