Elena Carrera and Pablo Hernández-Coronado, in charge of the new directions of AESA

• AESA appoints Elena María Carrera as director of the Directorate of Air Operations Safety, and Pablo Hernández-Coronado as director of the Directorate of Foreign Technical Cooperation.
• The creation of the new directorates is part of the organizational restructuring of AESA driven by the update of its Statute.
• The Agency's new organisational model strengthens technical expertise, international visibility and responsiveness to the challenges of the aeronautical sector.

 

Madrid, 10 November 2026 (AESA)

The State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) appoints those responsible for its new addresses:

• Elena María Carrera Toucedo has been appointed as the new Director of the Directorate of Air Operations Safety.
• Pablo Hernández-Coronado Quintero has been appointed director of the Directorate of Foreign Technical Cooperation.

Both appointments, published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), are part of the recent update of the Statute of the Agency, which has meant an evolution of its organizational structure to reinforce the specialization of its functions, improve the efficiency of its activity and respond to the new challenges of the aeronautical sector, increasingly complex and international. 

 

New Air Operations Safety Directorate

Elena Carrera, until now director of Aircraft Safety of the Agency, is at the head of the new Directorate of Air Operations Safety supported by her extensive professional career linked to aviation safety supervision. 

^{Elena Mª Carrera}

This new direction will allow a more specialised management of activities related to air operations, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commercial permits, sustainability and, as a novelty, competences linked to flight personnel and pilot training schools. 

The creation of this management body responds to the objective of providing AESA with a more agile and specialized structure, clearly differentiating the areas of airworthiness and air operations.

 

 New Directorate for External Technical Cooperation

For his part, Pablo Hernández-Coronado, until now head of the International Strategy Department of the Agency, has been appointed director of the new Directorate of External Technical Cooperation, a unit created to strengthen the international projection of the Agency and the management of its competences in the external field.

^{Pablo Hernández-Coronado}

In addition to having extensive experience in EASA and international civil aviation, Hernández-Coronado has chaired the Operational Safety Management Panel of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and is an alternate member of the Management Board of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). 

Among the main functions of this new Directorate are the coordination of the participation of EASA in the main international civil aviation fora, the management of the Association Agreement with EASA and the consolidation of the technical cooperation activity carried out by the Agency with administrations and bodies from other countries. 

The creation of this management body will allow consolidating a specific structure dedicated to the international activity of the Agency, as well as strengthening the presence of Spain and EASA in a context where international cooperation is essential to face common challenges in the field of safety, innovation and sustainability.  

 

An organisation better prepared for future challenges

These appointments are part of the new organizational structure of AESA, approved after the modification of its Statute by Royal Decree 466/2026, of June 10, which adapts state public bodies to Law 40/2015, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector.

In addition to the creation of these new directorates, the reorganisation has entailed, among other measures, the transformation of the former Directorate for Safety Management and Flight Personnel into the new Directorate for Safety Management and Operational Support, reinforcing the cross-cutting nature of the latter.

With this new structure, AESA strengthens its capacity to continue guaranteeing the highest levels of aviation safety, contribute to the sustainable development of aviation and offer a more efficient response to the needs of citizens, professionals and organizations in the sector. The new EASA organisation can be found here.

 

About EASA

AESA is the State body, attached to the State Secretariat 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 Safety. It assesses risks to transport safety and has the power to impose penalties for infringements of civil aviation rules.