Madrid, 2 February 2024 (AESA)

On July 1, 2023, the update of the regulations governing aeronautical servitudes managed by the State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) entered into force with the aim of achieving improvements and adjustments that guarantee the safety and regularity of air operations.

One of the novelties of this new Royal Decree 369/2023 is the incorporation of the exemptions, already approved in section 4a of the single additional provision of Law 48/1960, of 21 July, on Air Navigation, which make it possible to relax and improve coordination with the autonomous and local communities.

This establishes the assumptions and procedures for bodies in certain geographical areas to be exempted from requesting previous EASA reports for any activity or construction, provided that this does not pose a risk to air navigation and regularity of operations.

Likewise, on January 25th, the Official State Gazette (BOE) published the decisions of AESA for exemptions from the need for prior agreement of aeronautical servitudes for municipalities located in the vicinity of the airports of Alicante-Elche, Federico García Lorca Granada-Jaén, Pamplona,Logroño-Agoncillo, Teruel, Seve Ballesteros-Santander and Seville.

Although exemptions had already been issued before July 2023, these are the first ones that are based on Royal Decree 369/2023 and must therefore be published in BOE, having a totally public dissemination.

These exemptions entail a release of administrative burden, both for the autonomous body and for EASA. In addition, it should be noted that, with the update of the aeronautical servitudes planned for the coming years in accordance with the new regulations, these exemptions must be reassessed, so they are not fixed. This means that, with the revision of these, new municipalities could be exempted within the corresponding airport environment or even, in specific cases, losing this exemption those who so far enjoy it.

You can consult all the information on the management of the civil aviation servitudes competence of AESA 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 met throughout the aeronautical activity of Spain.

The Agency has the tasks of Supervision, Inspection and Management of Air Transport, Air Navigation and Airport Safety. It assesses the risks to transport safety and has the power to sanction infringements of civil aviation rules.