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Date Published: 18/05/2023

Spain will force airlines to reduce flight prices between the mainland and islands

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The agreement would mean regular, cheaper flights between Spain and the Balearic and Canary Islands

Spain will force airlines to reduce flight prices between the mainland and islands

The Spanish Government is studying a pioneering project that could soon reduce the “excessive prices” of flights operating between mainland Spain and the Balearic and Canary Islands.

This Public Service Obligations (OSP) pilot project, if adopted, would guarantee regular air routes at a more reasonable cost to passengers, according to the Ministry of Transport.

At the moment, airlines whose licences have been issued by a Member State of the European Union are free to set their own ticket prices on intra-community flights. However, the law also allows the governments of these countries to step in and restrict these freedoms by imposing what are known as public service obligations.

“The feasibility of a possible Public Service Obligations (OSP) pilot project is being studied to avoid excessive prices in the connections between the islands and the peninsula, to analyse their behaviour and evaluate their results,” a government spokesperson said in a statement this week.

But this is nothing new, since the Ministry of Transport is continuously monitoring the local air markets and is on the look-out for drastic price fluctuations that are likely to hinder travel to and from the Spanish Islands.

Nevertheless, a move to force the airlines to lower their prices would be an “exceptional” one that must be “very justified,” the spokesperson explained, and any actions would need to be carefully framed within the regulations of the European Union. This is because of the free market under which EU airlines have always operated.

“This means that European airlines can freely set their offers, in particular their rates, without the Member States being able to intervene or condition this freedom of operation,” the Ministry stressed.

And while the government is committed to implementing the OSP project, there is still a long road ahead where agreements will have to be reached with the affected regions in Spain and the airlines themselves.

In other news: Anti-tobacco activists ask Spanish government to ban cigarette sales in bars and filling stations

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