2000/521/EC: Commission Decision of 26 July 2000 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article 86(3) of the EC Treaty (notified under document number C(2000) 2267) (Text with EEA relevance) (Only the Spanish text is authentic)

• Published date: 18 August 2000
• Official Gazette Publication: Gazzetta ufficiale delle Comunità europee, L 208, 18 agosto 2000,Diario Oficial de las Comunidades Europeas, L 208, 18 de agosto de 2000,Journal officiel des Communautés européennes, L 208, 18 août 2000

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2000/521/EC: Commission Decision of 26 July 2000 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article 86(3) of the EC Treaty (notified under document number C(2000) 2267) (Text with EEA relevance) (Only the Spanish text is authentic)

Official Journal L 208 , 18/08/2000 P. 0036 - 0046

Commission Decision

of 26 July 2000

relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article 86(3) of the EC Treaty

(notified under document number C(2000) 2267)

(Only the Spanish text is authentic)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2000/521/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 86(3) and Article 82 thereof,

Having given the Spanish authorities, Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea ("AENA"), Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España ("Iberia"), Aviación y Comercio S.A. ("Aviaco") and Binter Canarias S.A. ("Binter") the opportunity to make known their views on the objections raised by the Commission regarding the system of discounts on landing fees in use at Spanish airports,

Whereas:

I. THE FACTS

(a) The relevant state measure

(1) In 1999, Spanish airports handled 63 million departing passengers, of which 32 million flew to intra-Community and 25 million to domestic destinations. All 41 Spanish airports, which are solely responsible for commercial traffic, are administered by AENA.

(2) According to the Spanish constitution, the Spanish Government is responsible for commercial airports for which there is a "general interest". This "general interest" has been declared to exist for all commercial airports in Spain.

(3) The Spanish airports' landing fees system, as well as its details, are set out by Royal Decrees 1064/1991(1) and 1268/1994(2) as well as by Article 83(3) of Law 41/1994 (the Finance Law(3)).

(4) Article 7 of Royal Decree 1064/1991 as amended by Article 1 of Royal Decree 1268/94, distinguishes three categories of airports, which are managed by AENA, according to the importance of their traffic.

Table 1

Categories of Spanish Airports

>TABLE>

(5) Article 1 of Royal Decree 1064/91 provides that "The landing fee constitutes a tax which is calculated according to the use of the runway by the aircraft and the provision of services specific to this usage, other than flight assistance...".

(6) Article 7 of Royal Decree 1064/91 provides the details of the respective fees. For national flights the landing fees are based on the maximum take-off weight corresponding the categories set out in the following table:

Table 2

Domestic landing fees in Spain in 2000

>TABLE>

(7) Article 7 distinguishes between domestic, intra-Community and extra-Community flights. As regards international flights, the following table sets out the present landing fees:

Table 3

International landing fees in Spain in 2000

>TABLE>

(8) As a second measure concerning landing fees, Article 7 of Royal Decree 1064/91 grants discounts according to the number of landings per month at a specific airport. For the first 50 landings no discounts are granted. For the 51st to the 100th landing a discount of about 9 % is granted. The discounts increase further with the number of landings per month. As can be seen from the following table, the most important discounts are only available for airlines which have more than 200 landings per month.

Table 4

Discounts on landing fees at Spanish airports in 2000

>TABLE>

(9) Finally, in 1998 the Spanish Government introduced a discount of 15 % to 70 % for scheduled flights to the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and Melilla.

(10) Article 9 of Royal Decree 1268/94 states that: "AENA, a public undertaking responsible for the exploitation and the management of airports, is the managing organisation for the fees imposed by this Royal Decree."

(11) Article 83(3) of Law 41/1994 (the Finance Law) defines the actual level of landing fees to be paid by the airlines.

(b) The relevant undertakings and services

(12) AENA is a public undertaking set up by Article 82 of the Finance Law of 1990. The Finance Law grants AENA the exclusive right to administer the airport infrastructure of 41 airports on the Spanish territory. AENA is also in charge of air traffic control.

(13) AENA receives fees in return for the services it provides in connection with the landing and take-off of aeroplanes, which use the infrastructure, which is managed by AENA.

(14) Iberia is a Spanish airline of which the State holds 84,74 %. Iberia's main activity is passenger transport to and from Spain's 10 main cities, 24 European cities and 34 cities located outside the Community. In 1998, Iberia transported about 21,8 million and 6,2 million passengers worldwide and in Europe, respectively.

(15) Iberia controls 100 % of the airline Binter and about 99,9 % of Aviaco and 99,5 % of Viva Air.

(c) The landing charges

(16) In its Airport Economics Manual(4), the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), recommends that its members base their charges on the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of the aircraft. The landing charge is defined as follows:

"Charges and fees collected for the use of runways, taxiways and apron areas, including associated lighting, as well as for the provision of approach and aerodrome control."

(17) The charge is imposed to cover all "operation and maintenance costs, and administrative costs attributable to those areas and their associated vehicles and equipment, including the expense of all labour, maintenance materials, power and fuels"(5).

(d) The main arguments of the Spanish authorities and AENA

(18) On 28 April 1997, the Commission sent the Spanish authorities a letter of formal notice, pointing out that the existing system of discounts and the differentiation of landing fees according to the origin of the flight discriminate in favour of national airlines. On 21 October 1997, the Spanish authorities replied that the discount system would apply to all airlines, irrespective of their nationality and that the discounts granted would be smaller than the ones addressed in Commission Decision 95/364/EC concerning the system of discounts on landing fees at Brussels National Airport(6). Most of the discounts granted to Spanish airlines would arise from domestic flights. Hence they would not affect trade between Member States.

(19) The Spanish authorities undertook to reduce the difference in landing charges between national and intra-Community flights step by step. By 1999 the price difference would be eliminated.

(20) However, in 1997 landing fees for both domestic and intra-Community flights increased on average by 8 %. While in 1998 intra-Community flights increased slightly less than domestic flights, no further harmonisation has taken place in 1999 and 2000.

(21) On 23...