By Clara-Laeila Laudette
MADRID, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Spanish airport operator Aena AENA.MC said on Friday the financial impact of a newly-passed law pinning rental income from retail tenants such as duty free shops and restaurants to passenger numbers would be lower than it previously estimated.
The law, approved earlier this month and which applies retroactively from March 15 2020 – when Spain’s pandemic state of emergency began – is now expected to cost Aena 1.35 billion euros ($1.57 billion), down from a previous estimate of 1.5 billion euros.
“We will be cancelling invoices and returning money to our commercial tenants,” Chief Financial Officer Jose Leo told investors on a conference call following the publication of third-quarter results.
The world’s largest airport operator, with 46 airports including Madrid’s Adolfo Suarez Barajas in its Spanish network, reported a 6.5% rise in commercial revenue in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period of 2020, but its net loss widened 15% to 123.7 million euros.
Leo said he expected the majority of leisure traffic through Aena’s airports to return in summer 2022 “if things go right”. He added that the company’s main problem was soaring energy costs, with no impact as yet from the global supply chain and raw materials crunches.
Barring any further complications from the pandemic, Leo said traffic in the first quarter of 2022 should improve from the roughly 40% of 2019 activity expected this year, as airlines beef up their capacity and bet big on the winter season.
Spain’s ALA airlines association recently said it expects more flights over the winter period than before the pandemic but warned that rising energy prices and fuel shortages could jeopardise that recovery.
While international tourism to Spain remains at levels around half its pre-pandemic norm, the number of international visitors in September was up 400% from a year ago and the government expects a wider global vaccine rollout and clearer travel rules to entice more travellers next year.
($1 = 0.8584 euros)
(Reporting by Clara-Laeila Laudette, additional reporting by Corina Pons; Editing by Nathan Allen, Kirsten Donovan)
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