Flights between Madrid and Andalusia after the accident: Iberia limits prices and airlines add seats

For a European Union airline that already operates legally, increasing domestic flights in Spain generally does not require a new authorization per route. The procedures focus on obtaining airport capacity, securing the necessary schedules, and adapting operational approvals if the operation changes. There are important exceptions: routes with public service obligations and third-country carriers.

1. Verify the airline's authorization

The airline must maintain a valid operating license and an Air Operator Certificate —AOC— with specifications suitable for the planned flights. For a Spanish company, AESA is the competent authority in these matters. A community company does not need to obtain an additional Spanish license to increase its domestic flights.

If the expansion involves incorporating aircraft, using a different type of plane, or modifying relevant aspects of the operation, the corresponding approvals or modifications must be processed. It must also have sufficient crews, maintenance, insurance, and aircraft. Procedures for operating licenses and air operations by AESA can be consulted.

2. Request slots when necessary

At coordinated airports, adding frequencies requires obtaining airport slots: permissions to use the infrastructure at a specific date and time. It is necessary to secure slots for both departure and arrival at airports where they are required.

• Submit requests to the coordinator, Airport Coordination Spain, for the corresponding season.
• Adjust schedules to available capacity and subsequently manage modifications or cancellations.
• Comply with usage conditions to retain the corresponding historic rights.

Slots do not replace safety authorizations, nor do these guarantee obtaining slots. At non-coordinated airports, formal slot allocation may not be required, but operational availability must be verified. Aena explains access to operations in its airline guide.

3. Organize airport services

The company must agree with the airport manager on the necessary resources: parking, gates, counters, and ground handling services. It must also contract or expand ground assistance —handling— and ensure fuel and other services.

It must also provide the required operational and statistical information and comply with schedule, noise, and operational restrictions of each airport. Runway availability is not enough if there are no means to service the flights. See Aena's conditions for operating.

4. Review if the route has public service obligations

Routes with public service obligations —PSO— require examining their specific regulation and, when applicable, the awarded contract. They may establish frequencies, capacity, schedules, continuity, and fare conditions.

Not every PSO route is exclusive. If there is restricted access or a contract, another company cannot assume that obtaining slots is sufficient. The awarded operator must not unilaterally modify contractual conditions: the increase may require adjusting the program, obtaining authorization, or modifying the contract. The interlocutor is the DGAC, according to the principles published by AESA.

5. Distinguish frequencies and seats

More frequencies require capacity for additional movements; more seats with a larger aircraft do not necessarily imply more slots, but compatibility with the airport and AOC coverage must be verified. The procedure for authorization of commercial operation programs should not be automatically applied to community domestic flights. Third-country companies do not automatically have the right to operate Spanish domestic routes: a specific analysis of traffic rights and permits is required.

Aena manages operational flight information and coordinates airport resources with airlines, but it does not independently decide the entire scheduling nor assume the airline's obligations towards passengers. The fundamental distinction is between managing the airport, operating the flight, assigning time slots, and providing air navigation services.

1. Flight information management and dissemination

Aena receives and integrates information about scheduled flights, estimated times, arrivals, departures, delays, cancellations, and operational needs. With this data, coming from airlines and other operational systems, it updates its information channels: screens, website, apps, and terminal notices.

It also manages information related to airport usage: terminal, check-in counters, boarding gates, and baggage claim belts. Therefore, its role is not only to reproduce commercial schedules but to link each operation with available airport resources.

However, the published information does not guarantee that the flight will operate without changes. As explained by Demócrata about Infovuelos, the service uses confirmed operations and airline estimates; schedules may change. Seat availability, ticket purchase, and conditions must be verified with the airline.

2. Operational coordination with airlines

As airport manager, Aena organizes the necessary infrastructure to service flights and coordinates its use with airlines, ground handling companies, and air navigation services. This coordination includes:

• Before the flight: operation forecasting, aircraft characteristics, assistance needs, and assignment of terminals, counters, gates, and parking stands.
• During the operation: updating estimated times, gate or position changes, and coordinating boarding, disembarking, and baggage handling.
• In case of incidents: resource reorganization due to delays, diversions, cancellations, capacity restrictions, or facility unavailability.

The Aena information for operators outlines the practical framework to start operating. Coordination also covers works affecting capacity: for example, Aena communicated that works in Barcelona were planned with airlines and slot allocation bodies to incorporate restrictions into scheduling, according to this Demócrata report.

3. Schedules and slots: Aena is not the independent coordinator

The company decides which services it intends to offer but must respect airport capacity and applicable procedures. At coordinated airports, it needs an airport slot: permission to use the infrastructure necessary to land or take off at a specific date and time.

Allocation corresponds to AECFA, not Aena. According to AESA on time slots, AECFA exercises coordination and facilitation of schedules within the framework of Regulation 95/93. Aena provides the capacity and infrastructure perspective and cooperates in its application. The Spanish aeronautical information includes requirements for schedule request and confirmation.

4. Limits and responsibilities towards passengers

Aena does not replace the airline in commercial decisions about cancellations, sales, refunds, or alternative transport. Obligations regarding information on rights, assistance, and compensation under Regulation 261/2004 fall mainly on the operating company, as AESA reminds here.

Traveler information should not be confused with official aeronautical information from ENAIRE. In summary: Aena coordinates the airport and informs about operations; the airline provides transport; AECFA coordinates slots.

Marco Sansavini is the president of Iberia and his career is primarily business-oriented, focused on commercial aviation, strategy, and management. The sources consulted do not indicate that he has held elective offices, governmental responsibilities, or leadership positions in political parties. To understand his background, it is useful to distinguish his professional career from the institutional relations that accompany the presidency of an airline.

A career linked to air transport

Sansavini began his aviation career at KLM in 1995. This start places his experience in the airline business long before assuming the top responsibility at Iberia. His profile has developed around commercial activity, strategy, and business development, not a prior career in administration or political organizations.

His main previous stage within Iberia was as commercial director between 2012 and 2020. This is a particularly relevant precedent: when he assumed the presidency, he had already spent eight years in a managerial role at the company. Therefore, his arrival was not the incorporation of an outsider executive but a return to a company whose operation and commercial activity he knew.

The timing of his appointment requires specifying dates. Although some consulted references present contradictory chronologies, corporate communications dated allow placing the change in 2024, not in October 2026. Iberia announced his appointment on February 29, 2024 and published the start of his term as president on April 3, 2024.

His activity in recent years

Already leading Iberia, his public intervention appears linked to business and labor decisions. An example is the February 2025 debate about the future of Iberia Express, in the context of negotiations with its pilots and alternatives IAG was studying to develop the low-cost business in Madrid.

According to information from elDiario.es, Sansavini then stated two conditions for that activity: a competitive cost base and an agreement with union representatives. This episode illustrates the content of his recent responsibility: competitiveness, business organization, and labor relations. It does not by itself evidence a partisan position or a political career.

Has he had a political career?

There is no record of a formal political career for Sansavini in the sources consulted. No parliamentary mandates, government positions, or party organizational responsibilities have been identified. Nor is there basis in the available material to attribute a specific political affiliation to him.

It is important to maintain this distinction. Presiding over Iberia means acting in a sector with a public and regulatory dimension, but this circumstance does not automatically make its top executive a partisan actor. Likewise, statements about costs or union negotiations describe management decisions, not necessarily a political ideology.

In summary, Sansavini's accredited career combines international experience in aviation, a long commercial stage at Iberia, and his subsequent presidency. The strongest conclusion is that he is a professional executive in the airline sector. If “political career” means having held public office or party responsibilities, there is no record that he has done so.