The Government of the Canary Islands and the State have formalized this Friday an agreement to set in motion a bilateral, parity-based body that will allow the archipelago to be “witnesses and participant” in decisions that affect its eight airports, facilities considered “strategic” for the economic and social cohesion of the islands.
This new body will be made up of eight representatives, four designated by the regional Executive and another four by the central Government, who will be responsible for debating and agreeing on matters related to airport joint management. The chairmanship will rotate each year between the two administrations, with the first term beginning under the direction of the Government of the Canary Islands.
The announcement was made at the headquarters of the Presidency of the Government, with the participation of the minister Ángel Víctor Torres and the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, accompanied by the Government spokesperson, Alfonso Cabello, and the Minister of Public Works, Mobility and Transport, Pablo Rodríguez, among other officials.
Within the framework of this bilateral commission, the transfer of material resources has also been concluded so that, starting in January 2027, the Canary Islands will exercise competences over airfields and heliports that are not catalogued as being of general interest.
Specifically, the airfields of Antigua, in Fuerteventura, and El Berriel, in Gran Canaria, are included, as well as the heliports of Artenara, Hospital Universitario Insular and Puerto de Las Palmas; Adeje, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Hospital de La Candelaria and La Guancha; San Sebastián de La Gomera and Puntagorda, on La Palma.
The transfer, set for January 1, 2027, will allow the Canarian Executive to assume planning tasks, authorization, construction, modification and opening to air traffic of these infrastructures, while always respecting the competences that remain reserved to the State.
The agreement also provides for the creation of a follow-up commission with parity composition, formed by three representatives from each of the administrations.
A “relevant” agreement for self-government
Ángel Víctor Torres emphasized the “relevant” nature of this pact, which is concluded in the last bilateral commission of the legislature after “three years of meetings” with the Canary Islands. “When we talk about transfers, we are talking about agreements. Only in these three and a half years, we are approaching 40 transfers with the autonomous communities,” he said.
"We believe in self-government, in co-governance, and in the particularities of the territories", the minister has stressed, who has placed emphasis on the "complexity" of the negotiations until reaching a consensus that addresses the particular features of the Canary Islands, with eight airports "very relevant for the country".
From the autonomous Executive, the minister Pablo Rodríguez has said that it may be possible to "comply" with the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands, which since 2018 already provided for the archipelago’s participation in the management and planning of airports of general interest.
"This agreement is important because it directly affects our main economic sector, and also because it is the only way or one of the only ways that we have to move from the Canary Islands to the outside, and, therefore, it plays a fundamental role in territorial and social cohesion", Rodríguez has highlighted.
From simple "witnesses" to protagonists
The minister has specified that "what is sought" is no longer "to be simply a witness to what happens in the airports, but also a protagonist in airport planning and management" on the islands.
"We have one of the most profitable networks of airports in the whole State, and now what we are going to achieve with this is that the profitability that the airport network has will translate into better services, into better airports, into better infrastructure and into improving the archipelago’s connectivity", he added.
For his part, the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has valued the understanding reached with the central Government, despite the State’s "centralizing will", which, he said, "costs" to cede powers.
He has emphasized the work carried out in order to be able to sign what he considers "a great agreement" that will allow the Canary Islands to "advance" in its capacity for self-government, focusing on key infrastructures for its main economic driver, tourism, and determinants for the mobility of the Canarian citizenry.
Once the bilateral body begins to operate together with the State, one of the priorities of the regional Executive will be to supervise compliance with the Airport Regulatory Document 2027-203 (Dora III), considered the "largest" investment package negotiated for the Canary Islands.
Functions of the new airport body
The Canary Islands–State Airport Bilateral Body sets an established framework for the participation of the autonomous community in the planning of airports of general interest.
Its duties will include collecting the proposals of the Government of the Canary Islands before the drafting of the master plans and issuing mandatory reports on those documents before they are approved by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, as the regional Executive has explained.
It will also take part in the preparation of the Airport Regulatory Document (DORA), which determines Aena’s investments for each five-year period.
Canary Islands will be able to thus convey its priorities regarding connectivity and investments, participate in the preparation of the document and issue a mandatory report, including the aspects that influence the calculation of airport fees.
In addition, it will have access to the annual reviews of the fees and to monitoring the execution of the approved investments, with the possibility of establishing specific control mechanisms for DORA III 2027-2031 and for subsequent periods.
Evaluation of connectivity and quality of service
The body will be empowered to analyze the archipelago’s connectivity needs, promote new national and international routes, and address issues related to the quality of service, sustainability, and intermodality between airports and other modes of transport.
The ordinary meetings will be held on a quarterly basis, although either of the parties may request extraordinary meetings, which must be convened within a maximum period of fifteen days.
None of the administrations will have the power to veto in order to prevent matters related to the body’s functions from being included on the agenda. Decisions will be adopted by consensus and, if discrepancies persist in the reports, the positions of both parties will be recorded.