Almería and Gijón, new municipalities under aeronautical servitudes with AESA exemptions

• La Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea (AESA) avanza en la segunda fase de su plan de exenciones para municipios ubicados bajo servidumbres aeronáuticas, siendo Madrid, Barcelona o Palma los siguientes en ser evaluados.
• Las exenciones permiten que los organismos de estos municipios no tengan que solicitar autorización ante AESA para construcciones o instalaciones, siempre que no haya riesgo para la seguridad aérea.
• Este trabajo supone una reducción de carga administrativa y agilidad en los procedimientos, con un beneficio directo para el ciudadano.

Madrid, 18 February 2026 (AESA)

Madrid, 18 February 2026 (AESA). The State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) is moving forward with the second phase of its plan to grant exemptions to municipalities located under civil aeronautical servitudes (SSAA) in Spain. These SSAA delimit the protection zone around airports, helipads and radio installations in order to ensure the safety of air operations.

In this context, AESA has issued new exemptions for the municipalities of Almería and Gijón, both affected by the SSAA of the airports of Almería and Asturias, respectively. With this measure, applicants for actions located in these municipalities are exempted from requesting from AESA the prior favorable agreement for the realization of urban activities, such as constructions, facilities or plantations, provided that they do not pose a risk to aviation safety.

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In this second phase of the plan, AESA addresses those municipalities that could not be granted the exemption in full in the first period. Therefore, following a technical analysis, it is determined whether the exemption can be granted in whole or in part. In cases of partial exemption, the plans of the municipality with the exempted areas shall be included.

Both these plans and the complete list of municipalities with exemption are available in the ‘Aeronautical Services’ section of the AESA website, once the corresponding resolution has been published in the Official State Gazette (BOE).

The Agency will continue to advance in this plan with the issuance of new exemptions for other municipalities located under aeronautical servitudes, such as Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Vitoria, Burgos or Vigo, among others.

General exemption requirements

In order to benefit from the exemption, in general, the activity must not exceed 45 meters in height in these areas (or 30 meters in areas defined punctually with exceptional circumstances). In addition, installations that may pose a risk to aviation safety, such as foci of attraction of fauna (water rafts, slurry pits, landfills, etc.), installations that generate smoke or dust (fireplaces, industrial plants, etc.) or installations that produce glare (in general, solar plants, except those for domestic use), among others, are excluded. For these cases, a prior authorization agreement must be requested by the established ordinary procedure.

On the other hand, although certain activities do not require a prior favourable agreement on SSAA, it will be necessary to coordinate with the airport manager or ENAIRE depending on the area in which they are carried out.

Benefits for citizenship

This initiative entails a significant reduction of the administrative burden for local authorities, as well as for EASA, improving inter-agency coordination and streamlining administrative procedures for SSAA. 

These exemptions are granted ex officio, i.e. on AESA’s own initiative, following a pre-defined plan based on population and volume criteria for processing applications, and aligned with technical and aviation safety criteria. 

In EASA's commitment to aviation safety, the Agency will continue to make progress in this and the next phases to evaluate new geographical areas, as well as the revision of those already published may be contemplated if there is an update of a specific easement.

About AESA

AESA is the State body, attached to the Secretary of State for Transport of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, which ensures that civil aviation standards are complied with in all aeronautical activity in Spain. 

The Agency has the missions of Supervision, Inspection and Management of Air Transport, Air Navigation and Airport Security. It assesses risks to transport safety and has the power to impose penalties for breaches of civil aviation rules.