Festive cheer for Spanish airlines

The Spanish airline sector, the bulk of which is based in Palma, breathed a sigh of relief yesterday in response to news from the Airports and Air Traffic Control body AENA that airport taxes will remain frozen at their current rates for the time being. Over the past month there has been widespread protest from the airlines over a proposed increase in airport taxes and AENA stated yesterday that taxes will stay at their current levels. AENA, which manages 43 Spanish airports, including each of the Balearics' three terminals, moved to also quash claims by the Ministry for Development that airport taxes can be rounded up when converted in to euros. AENA said that reports that the Ministry had given such permission are completely false. Some parts of the transport sector, in particular the coach companies, are angry that they are not being allowed to round their prices up with the conversion to the euro.