ENAIRE celebrates its tenth anniversary with the highest flight numbers in its history

ENAIRE, the national air navigation service provider, is celebrating its tenth anniversary today since, following its publication in the Official State Gazette, on 5 July 2014, what had been AENA E.P.E., formalised its new identity to create the company Aena, S.A. and the new ENAIRE E.P.E., focused on air traffic management and the provision of air navigation services.

This anniversary comes just as the air traffic management figures for 2024 show an improvement over the previous record year of 2023, and smash the traffic benchmarks for 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, ENAIRE professionals managed nearly 2.2 million flights (between international, domestic and overflights), 10.6% more than in 2022 and 2% more than in 2019, the previous record year.

In the first six months of the year, ENAIRE managed 1,105,310 flights, 9.03% more than in the same period in 2023. With this upward trend, air traffic control in Spain will record the highest figure ever in 2024.

ENAIRE is a state-owned company affiliated with the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, and has a staff of more than 4,000 professionals including air traffic controllers (approximately half), engineers, technicians and support and management personnel.

As part of the organisation's successive strategic plans, the 2020 Flight Plan and the 2025 Flight Plan, safety, quality services, efficiency and sustainability are ENAIRE's priorities in flight management.

Leader in aviation safety

Safety is a crucial part of ENAIRE's DNA and is the main consideration in the decision-making of the air transport sector. For ENAIRE, it is a matter of pride to have received the highest score in Europe on the aviation safety key performance indicator for four years in a row. This certification attests to the quality of ENAIRE's services and its commitment to safety as a public entity before regulators and public administrations, customers, partners, and society as a whole.

Net contributor to sustainability

In the pursuit of safer, more efficient and sustainable air traffic management strategies, ENAIRE is implementing new airport control approach procedures, as well as projects and tools aimed at facilitating more direct routes through civil-military coordination and cooperation between providers.

This year's figures underpin the work being undertaken by ENAIRE. Last year, the measures adopted allowed airlines to save 22,000 tonnes of fuel, avoiding the atmospheric emission of almost 70,000 tonnes of CO₂.

Milestones in ENAIRE's history

Although the ENAIRE name is ten years old, its history as a public entity goes much further back, specifically, to 1991, when the public entity Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (Aena) was created.

In 2010, the legal framework for the liberalisation of the aerodrome control service was approved, and AENA, currently ENAIRE, was named the exclusive provider of route and approach control services.

In 2011, Aena Aeropuertos S.A. and Aena Entidad Pública Empresarial (E.P.E.) were effectively separated and a service provision agreement was established between the two organisations.

In 2012 and 2013, the aerodrome air traffic service was liberalised in 12 control towers of the Aena network.

In 2014, ENAIRE was created as part of the partial privatisation of Aena S.A., with private investors allowed to take a 49% stake in the company in 2015. Aena E.P.E. maintains 51% of its shareholder structure and changed its name to ENAIRE E.P.E.

In 2017, ENAIRE's Strategic Plan, called the 2020 Flight Plan, was launched. In 2021, the 2025 Flight Plan was initiated.

In 2023, the Third Collective Agreement between ENAIRE and air traffic controllers was signed, going into effect on 25 August.

Five control centers

As a company of the Ministry of Sustainable Transport and Mobility, it provides en route control services for all flights and overflights from five control centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Gran Canaria and Palma, as well as approach services to every airport in the country.

In addition, 46 airports receive communication, navigation and surveillance services from ENAIRE, which also maintains their air traffic control systems, and 21 of them, including the country's busiest airports, rely on its aerodrome air traffic control services.

Driver for the digital transformation of the sector

As the fourth largest European air traffic manager, ENAIRE is a member of the A6 Alliance and participates in SESAR, EUROCONTROL, and iTEC. These are just some of the organisations and consortia working on coordinating and developing the Single European Sky, the integration of drones and conventional aviation, the regulation and incorporation of space as a new dimension of air navigation, and other challenges facing the aviation industry.

ENAIRE is a catalyst for the digital transformation of the sector and it has a clear internationalisation strategy. It participates in consortiums such as Startical, together with Indra, with a focus on satellite air traffic management, and it will be the sole provider of common U-space information services for drones.

ENAIRE, as the responsible agency identified by the Ministry of Sustainable Transport and Mobility to implement the U-Space system in Spain, will, through its digital platform, provide the Common Information Services (CIS), which are essential to facilitate U-space services to drones and Urban Air Mobility in cooperation with local air traffic services, so that all types of aircraft can fly safely in the same airspace.