AESA approves more than 200 flight programs for the summer season, 7% more than the previous year

Madrid, 8 April 2025 (AESA)

On March 30, the IATA S25 summer season began. In response to the requests of the airlines, in view of the air operations of this season, the State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) has authorized 203 flight programs for the summer season: 113 own air service programmes to third countries (non-EU) and 90 air service programmes under codeshare agreements, i.e. an agreement between two or more airlines to carry their passengers mutually.

This figure reflects, once again, an increase in the number of air service programme authorisations issued as a whole, representing an increase of approximately 7% compared to the previous summer season.

It should be noted that a program is a series of flights to be performed by an airline whose schedule and airports of origin/destination are repeated every week, constituting an obvious systematic series. These can be regular or charter, the main difference between the two is the impossibility of buying an isolated ticket in the latter case, but they are marketed by an agent other than the company, usually as part of a holiday package.

According to the graph, an upward trend is evident that, in all probability, will also be reflected in the total number of commercial operations that will be carried out, although the operations carried out under the air services programs do not represent the totality of commercial operations.

Of the services operated in-house, according to the type of service, 95 regular service programs have been authorized, 22 of charter services and the rest belong to codeshare programs. If, on the other hand, we take into account the nature of the service to be provided, it should be mentioned that 180 of the programmes are intended for passenger transport and 23 for exclusive air cargo services.

Regarding the operating companies and the connections of the authorized flights, the approved services affect companies from 43 countries that, in direct passenger transport services, allow the connection between Spanish airports and airports of 56 countries outside the European Union. If we add to these services the operations authorized under codeshare agreements, the scope of the connections is extended to more than 130 countries.

On the other hand, air services between two airports in the European Union do not need authorisation.

With these data, Spanish aviation is consolidated as a strategic sector for our country, for its contribution to international territorial connection, the economy and social development.