21 June 2016 – El Confidencial
(…). Aena has launched an ambitious plan to generate the maximum possible returns from its vast land holdings, above all, those located around the two jewels in the group’s crown: the Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suárez and Barcelona-El Prat aerodromes.
The airport manager, whose main objectives since it debuted on the stock exchange has been to optimise its real estate assets, has decided to split the land auction that it has launched into three batches to obtain the maximum benefit from its wealth: the first is limited to Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suárez; the second to Barcelona-El Prat airport; and the third comprises all of the strategic and real estate consultancy work.
According to El Confidencial, the only way of participating in the bid is by invitation and to this end, the company led by José Manuel Vargas is now making contact with the best international firms in the sector.
In order to benefit from the extensive plan, the company has also decided to consider transferring its headquarters to the capital’s airport, where Aena has ambitious plans, not only to construct offices and hotels, but also to complete its service offering, with meeting rooms for executives, as well as new hangars and warehouses. (…)
Behind Aena’s plans is the logic that the airport manager is the tenant of the buildings that it currently occupies in the capital and which it would vacate if this operation ends up going ahead: the building on Calle Arturo Soria 109, which houses Aena Desarrollo Internacional, and the property on Peonías 12, in the elitist area of La Piovera.
New times, new businesses
(…). Aena owns 2,000 hectares of land around its aerodromes, land that is concentrated in Madrid (which accounts for 40% of the total or 800 hectares) and Barcelona (18% or 360 hectares). The vast size of this space, together with the hub nature of these two infrastructures, are the two pivots around which the public company is designing its master plan.
On the one hand, it wants to take advantage of the boom in e-commerce and of the growth of companies such as Amazon, to construct and lease warehouses that will become the large storerooms of these types of companies in our country. (…).
On the other hand, Aena also wants to build new hangars for airlines on land closer to the airport terminals, something that it has already done under the terms of the agreement signed with Globalia for its subsidiary Air Europa at Terminal 1.
Finally, the airport manager wants to build hotels, offices and meeting centres in the vicinity of Barajas and El Prat, an initiative aimed at turning the two jewels in its crown into genuine airport cities and meeting points, which will allow executives from all over the world use these two infrastructures as their operational bases. (…)
Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)
Translation: Carmel Drake
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