Airports to be managed differently

Joan Collins THE airports in Mahon, Ibiza and Palma will each have their own administration committee and management board, as well as an advisory and auditing committee, all of them focussed on improving their efficiency and finding solutions to the problems which each island has. This is according to a document of minimum requirements presented by the Assessment Committee for the Co Management of Airports, which has been adopted by the Balearic Government, according to the Minister Mabel Cabrer, after a meeting with representatives of this committee in the Consolat de Mar. Cabrer and the Balearic Government's aeronautical assessor (and ex President of the Spanish Airports Authority AENA) Fernando Piña, explained that the document embodies the philosophy and the airport management model which the Balearic Government wants. In this document it is made clear that the ownership of airports should be public and not private, “because we think of air transport as a public service”, and it is in the interests of the Aerial Navigation department and the Spanish Ministries of Defence and the Interior, that they remain State owned. The Balearic Government will take over the airports which are now managed by AENA, but with the important difference that the airport on each island will be seen as a separate unit of management, and will have an administration committee (chosen by the director of the airport), an advisory board (who will deal with the economic and social aspects and anything defined by the Statute), and an auditing committee (who will determine the management efficiency criteria). The powers of the administration committee in each airport will be centred on optimising the commercial aspects, quality of services, allocation of “slots” (take off and landing times), dealing with the workers, allocating ground staff concessions, and prices.