Plan to sell off Palma Son Sant Joan’s air traffic control system to take off with bidding process in due course

THE Spanish national government is preparing to privatise Palma airport’s air traffic control tower as the government moves to sell facilities and operations at various airports in the country in a bid to make services more efficient and competitive.

The decision announced on Tuesday, February 7 will affect airports across the country including Málaga-Costa del Sol, Gran Canaria, Tenerife Sur, Tenerife Norte, Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela as well as Palma’s Son Sant Joan. The airports’ control towers were previously controlled by Enaire, an agency controlled by the Ministry for Transport.

Airports themselves were previously sold off the Aena, a process which has gone smoothly and which the government is hoping to emulate in this most recent privatisation. A bidding process will be held for the contract to manage air traffic control at Palma Son Sant Joan which several companies are expected to enter.

The Ministry for Transport has released a statement saying that security will remain the priority in any changes to the system and that the sale will make air travel more competitive making tickets cheaper and improve punctuality.