ENAIRE

Under the Royal Decree 905/1991, of 14 June, the statute of the public entity Aena (acronym for Spanish Airports and Air Navigation) was approved, and this came into force on 19 June 1991, the day following its publication in the Official Spanish Gazette (BOE). The directives for action by the new entity were set by the Government through the then Ministry for Transport, Tourism and Communications, today the Ministry for Public Works, and competences for management of the network of Spanish airports, air navigation facilities and support networks and control over air traffic were entrusted to it.

On 29 June 1990, in application of Art. 82 of the Act 4/1990, of 29 June 1990, the public entity Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (Aena), attached to the Ministry for Transport, Tourism and Communications, was created.

On 2 November 1991 it began to provide airport services and, one years later, on 2 November 1992, Aena started to provide services related to air navigation.

Development having got under way in 1984, the operational system SACTA (Automated Air Traffic Control System), was put into service at the Control Centre of Palma de Mallorca in the year 1990. In 1991, it came into service at the Air Traffic Control Centre of Madrid and, in 1992, at the Air Traffic Control Centre of Seville as well. At the Air Traffic Control Centres of Barcelona and Canary Islands, it was installed in 1994.

In 1997 Spain joined Eurocontrol as a full member.

On 19 June 2001, the new Air Traffic Control Centre of Seville, replacing the former one situated at El Judío, came into operation. The Air Traffic Control Centre of Seville was the very first in Spain, its history stretching back to the year 1952.

On 23 February 2005, the new Air Traffic Control Centre of Barcelona came into operation, replacing the former one situated at Gavá.

Aena, DFS and NATS, the air navigation service providers of Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom, signed an agreement to develop, jointly, the first flight plan system at a European level.

On 14 April 2010, the Act 9/2010 was published, regulating the provision of air traffic services, and the obligations of civil providers of such services are established, in addition to setting certain working conditions for civil air traffic controllers. This Act liberalised aerodrome control services.

The airport of Lleida-Alguaire began operations in 2010 and was the first autonomous region airport, outside the Aena network, to receive air navigation services from Aena, later on handled by ENAIRE.

By resolution of the Cabinet on 25 February 2011, the company Aena Aeropuertos was created, pursuant to the Legislative Royal Decree 13, of 3 December 2010, of actions in the fiscal, occupational and liberalising areas to encourage investment and the creation of employment, and which included, in its legislative text, the modernisation of the airport system through the implantation of a new management model.

By Ministerial Order of 7 June 2011, the commencement of the activity of Aena Aeropuertos, SA. was approved, to which entity all the duties and obligations previously exercised by the public corporate entity Aena in relation to the management and operation of airport services were entrusted.

Service provision agreement between Aena Aeropuertos S.A. and Aena (Public Corporate Entity).

On 18 January 2012, José Manuel Vargas Gómez was appointed managing director-Chairman of the Public Corporate Entity Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (Aena).

On 17 March 2013 Spain and Portugal signed the agreement to establish the south-west airspace.[7] It was signed by the Minister for Public Works, Ana Pastor Julián, and the Minister for the Economy and Employment of Portugal, Álvaro Santos Pereira, in order to establish a functional block for the management of the airspaces of Spain and Portugal (SW FAB – south-west zone of Europe).[8]

The public corporate entity Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (Aena) changed its name to ENAIRE (Legislative Royal Decree 8, of 4 July 2014). ENAIRE continues with the same nature and juridical regime envisaged for the public corporate entity Aena, holding exclusive competences in relation to air navigation and airspace, as well as national and international operational coordination of the national air traffic management network. In addition, ENAIRE holds 51% of the shares of Aena S.A., which has been listed on the Stock Exchange since 11 February 2015.

The Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, Rafael Catalá Polo, became chairman of the Public Corporate Entity ENAIRE on 15 July 2014. With his subsequent appointment as Minister for Justice, under the Royal Decree 851/2014, of 3 October, Julio Gómez-Pomar Rodríguez was appointed Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, and he also assumed the chairmanship of the public corporate entity ENAIRE.

Under the Legislative Royal Decree 8, of 4 July 2014, the change of name of the company Aena Aeropuertos, S.A., to Aena, SA., took place. ENAIRE possesses 51% of its shares.

The agreement to form the Group iTEC (Interoperability Through European Collaboration) was signed by the air navigation providers of Spain (ENAIRE), Germany (DFS), the United Kingdom (NATS) and Holland (LVNL), and the Spanish company Indra, for the development of the future air controller post in Europe.

On 19 May 2015, Ángel Luis Arias Serrano (Madrid, 1960) was appointed managing director of ENAIRE by the board of directors of the public corporate entity ENAIRE. Between January 2012 and his appointment as managing director of ENAIRE, Ángel Luis Arias occupied the post of Director General of Civil Aviation, in the course of which he exercised the duties of Chairman of the Governing Board of the Spanish Air Safety Agency (AESA) and he has been a member of the boards of directors of ENAIRE and Senasa, as well as vice-chairman of the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL).

In June 2018, Julio Gómez-Pomar Rodríguez was dismissed as Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing with the publication of Royal Decree 506/2018, of 18 June, and the publication on the same day of Royal Decree 511 / 2018, of 18 June, whereby Pedro Saura García, Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, is appointed, then becomes president of ENAIRE. In accordance with the Royal Decree-Law 8/2014, of 4 July, concerning the governing bodies of the ENAIRE Public Business Entity, the position of President of the same will fall to the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing.

Logo for Aena (August 2014–present)

ENAIRE owns 51% of Aena (Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea), a network of 46 airports in Spain and abroad. Aena operates all the airports of public interest in Spain and some air bases on a mixed basis with the Armed Forces of Spain. Also worth noting are Ceuta Heliport and Algeciras Heliport, the only heliports of the network.

ENAIRE also holds shares in the company INECO (an acronym for "Transport Engineering and Economics") (45.85%). The remainder of the shares are distributed between Renfe Operadora (12.78%) and Adif (41.37%). INECO is specialized in carrying out studies and projects linked to the transport and telecommunications sector. Created more than forty years ago, it has participated in all the major infrastructure projects for airports, railways and roads undertaken in Spain, and in many others internationally.

With the legal personality of an Economic Interest Grouping, ENAIRE (66.66%), Ineco (16.67%) and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (16.67%), have constituted the "ATM Research, Development and Innovation Reference Centre" (Crida) to engage in R&D+I activities in the area of ATM aimed at improving performance (in particular safety, capacity and economic and environmental efficiency) of the Spanish air navigation system, as an integral part of a global system.[9]

In addition, ENAIRE holds stakes in: EMGRISA (0.08%), Grupo Navegación por Satélite Sistemas y Servicios S.L. (19.3%), GroupEAD (36%) and Barcelona Regional (11.76%).