Aena S.M.E., S.A. (AENA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and thank you for standing by. My name is Charlie, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everybody to the Aena's H1 2026 Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions] I'd now like to turn the conference over to Carlos Gallego, Head of IR. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, and welcome to our first half 2026 results presentation. This is Carlos Gallego, Head of Investor Relations. It's a pleasure to be with you today. Joining us today are Javier Marín, our Executive Vice Chairman; and our CFO, Ignacio Castejón. We will review the main highlights of the results presentation. And after that, we will open the floor to your questions. As usual, in order to keep the call on schedule, we currently ask participants to limit themselves to one question at a time. Without further ado, I will now hand the call over to Javier Marín. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Carlos. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for the presentation of Aena's results for the first half of 2026. First of all, I would like to apologize on behalf of our Chairman, Maurici Lucena, who was feeling unwell last night, nothing serious, but he is unable to attend this conference today. Today's session will focus on the main operational and financial developments during the period. I will begin by reviewing the main highlights of the period. After that, our CFO, Ignacio Castejón, will go through the figures and the main business lines in greater detail. Starting by traffic across the Aena group. Passenger traffic reached 190 million passengers during the first half of 2026, an increase of 3.9% compared with the same period last year. This comparison includes Leeds Bradford airport passenger traffic in the first half of 2025 on a pro forma basis, also the acquisition was completed on 7th May 2026. In Spain, our airport network, 156.2 million passengers, representing a 3.7% increase compared with the first half of 2025. Growth was again driven mainly by international traffic, 5.1%, while domestic traffic increased by 0.9%. Looking ahead, our traffic outlook for Aena's Spanish airport network for 2026 needs to take into consideration, several factors. Prior to the Strait of Hormuz crisis and during the first few months of the year, traffic growth remained below 3%, broadly in line with Aena's expectations. However, following the crisis, a diversion of traffic towards Spain has been observed as the country has been perceived as a safe tourist destination, supported by capacity deployment from airlines such as Wizz Air, Jet2 and [ Winter ]. And as a result of that, since March, growth rates have been above the 3% level. Some constraints in the rail transport sector are diverting passengers towards air travel. Nevertheless, we are observing weaker load factors in the actual traffic growth, lagging behind the growth in seat capacity. So looking ahead to the second half of the year, visibility remains limited for a number of reasons. First of all, high uncertainty surrounding developments in the Middle East conflict, the expiry of fuel hedging programs at airlines, the potential impact on inflation and the economies of [indiscernible] markets, particularly Germany, that you know that is one of the main country people fly into Spain. And also, there is a huge uncertainty about the consumer spending patterns from the autumn onwards. And at this stage, we still don't have visibility on the 2026 winter season because the -- only at the end of August, the slots required by the company will be closed. So we don't have how all these factors are going to affect the autumn season and the winter season. So taking all these factors into account, -- at this moment, with all this information, all these uncertainties, Aena estimates that traffic growth in 2026 could be around 3% compared with 2025. Turning to traffic in our international portfolio. The airports within Aena's consolidated perimeter delivered a steady growth during the first half of the year. In U.K. Luton Airport 8.8 million passengers during the first half of the year, representing growth of 5.1% year-on-year. Traffic also remained above prepandemic levels, exceeding the first half of 2019 by 3%. At Leeds Bradford Airport, passenger traffic reached the figure of 2.1 million passengers during the first half of the year, representing a 3.3% increase compared with the same period of 2025. And finally, in Brazil, the group of airports based in Recife reached a figure of 8.6 million passengers, 6.4% above the same period of the year, and the group of 11 airports based in Congonhas Sao Paulo, posted a 2.8% increase with a total of 14 million passengers. Turning to our financial results. Total revenue for the first half of 2026 reached approximately EUR 3.3 billion, 10.1% year-on-year, increased EUR 304 million. Excluding IFRIC 12 Construction Services, revenue grew by -- growth by -- was 8.3%, which is a more representative view of the underlying operating performance. The main drivers were higher passenger volumes, the increase in regulated aeronautical charges from March 2026, improved commercial activity and higher construction services in Brazil. Construction Services amounted to EUR 140 million in the first half of the year compared with EUR 79 million in the first half of 2025. By revenue line, ordinary [indiscernible] revenue increased by 8.3%, ordinary commercial revenue by 7.1%, real estate services revenue by 15%, and ordinary international revenue by 27.9%. Excluding construction services, international revenue amounted to EUR 388 million, up 12.4% year-on-year. EBITDA reached EUR 1.8 billion, increasing by EUR 107 million or 6.3% year-on-year. The reported EBITDA margin was 54.5% compared with 56.5% in the first half of 2025. And excluding the Luton insurance compensation impact, EBITDA would have increased by 8.3%, equivalent to approximately EUR 138.2 million. In addition, excluding both IFRIC 12 construction services and the Luton insurance compensation, the comparable EBITDA margin would have been 56.9%, in line with the figure recorded in half -- first half of 2025. At the net profit level, the improvement was stronger than EBITDA growth. Net profit exceeded the EUR 1 billion mark for the first time in the first half period, reaching [ EUR 1,002 million ], up 12.1% year-on-year. Regarding the regulated business, DORA III continues to advance through the regulatory approval process. As you know, on 26th May, the CNMC issued its nonbinding supervision report within the scope of its functions, representing another milestone in the process. And the final stage will be the approval of the final DORA [indiscernible] Council of Ministers by 30 September 2026. Turning to commercial activity. Total sales grew by 5.9%, outpacing passenger traffic growth, and increased by 2.1% on a per passenger basis compared with the first half of 2025. This growth was driven by the progress in remodeling works in the additional commercial surface that entails the introduction of new business concepts, new brands and better economic conditions on the latest contracts awarded. The performance of car parks, the continued increase in demand for VIP launches and the development of real estate initiatives. On this area, real estate, total revenue grew by 15.3% in the first half of 2026. In this case, I would like to highlight the award by Aena of 2 surface rights for the construction and operation of the first hotel developments within the Spanish airport network, one to Barceló Group at the Madrid Airport, for which the agreement was -- has already been signed, and another to Momentum under the Hyatt brand at the Barcelona Airport. Let me now move on to our international business -- international -- international business. Revenue amounted to EUR 529 million in the first half of 2026, [indiscernible] EUR 388 million excluding the impact of IFRIC Construction Services, while EBITDA reached EUR 189 million. These figures include the contribution of EUR 8 million from Augusta U.K., following the completion of the acquisition referred to earlier, under which Aena acquired a 51% stake in the holding company that owns Leeds Bradford Airport and a 49% interest in Newcastle airport. In Brazil, on March 2026, Aena has awarded under the sale assisted process -- was awarded under a sale assisted process, 100% of the concession of Rio de Janeiro International Airport. The operation amounts to [ BRL 2.9 billion ], equivalent to approximately EUR 490 million as of 30 June 2026. The acquisition remains subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026. Continuing with other key points, let me also briefly comment on investment during the period. Paid CapEx amounted to EUR 916 million. This includes mainly investments in airport infrastructure amounting to EUR 576 million and the acquisition of 51% of Augusta for EUR 340 million. Regarding CapEx in Brazil, the group based in Congonhas, continues to deliver the investment program required under the concession contract. And we are happy to say that on 4th June, last June, the contractual milestone for the completion of the Phase 1 works at 9 airports was achieved. The regulator and [ ACI ] has carried out inspections at all of them to verify compliance with the contractual obligations. Now we continue with the works at Congonhas. As you know that we have 2 additional years to end this works, and these are progressing simultaneously on the several projects associated with the first phase of the development plan, including the construction of hangars and cargo terminals for airlines, the development of the new remote aircraft, [indiscernible], and the commencement of works to expand and refurbish the [ existing ] passenger terminal. The completion, as I have said, for the Congonhas airports, is June 2028. These projects support future growth while complying with the concession contractual commitments. So with this information, I end my presentation, I'm going to hand over to our CFO, Ignacio Castejón, that will continue providing you some details about this presentation. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Javier. Hello, everyone. This is Ignacio Castejón. Thank you for joining our results presentation for the first half. I'll provide some further details on traffic, OpEx, commercial performance and the performance of our international businesses. After that, we'll have the Q&A session. I'll try to be brief so that we have time for all your questions. If we look at traffic performance, if we look at the volumes with Europe, they grew at 5.2%. Three out of the four largest markets in Europe, excluding Spain, and I'm referring to the U.K., Italy and France, remain positive contributors, while Germany was slightly negative, as mentioned by Javier earlier. Poland have the highest increase with a 27.6% growth rate. Regarding the long-haul markets, the volumes with Latin America and North America regions increased by 6.2% and 7%, respectively. It is also remarkable, the increase of passengers from Asia with a 30% increase, although still a small contributor to Aena passenger numbers. If we look at the Middle East, affected by the current conflict over there, the traffic flows went down by circa 26%. As you know, this region only contributed around 1% of Aena passenger volumes. Looking at airport levels at the top, if we look at the 10 -- top 10 airports in Spain: Seville, Alicante, Valencia, Malaga, Barcelona, Madrid were the main contributors to growth. South [ Henri ] Airport was the only one, a decrease in [indiscernible] Spain by the performance of the German market. Finally, regarding the airlines operating in Spain, the top 10 carriers handle around 113 million passengers, 3.6% more than in the first half of 2025. [indiscernible], [ Air Europa ] and Vueling delivered growth rates higher than 3%. Let's go to Slide 7, financial performance, and let's focus on OpEx. OpEx at approved level increased by 13.5%. Excluding IFRIC 12 construction activity, OpEx growth was 9.4%. By platforms or by assets, OpEx in Spain at the mother company level increased by 9.4%, as Luton, 1.7; ANB, 11.8; and at the Congonhas portfolio airport by circa 62%. At BOAB, the increase is significantly affected by the construction activity under IFRIC 12 and the accounting of that activity, increase in both revenue and cost, but neutral from an EBITDA standpoint as all of you know. If you look at the mother company at Aena's [ ME ], total OpEx reached the figure of EUR 1.1 billion compared with EUR 1 billion in the first half of 2025. The increase was mainly driven by other operating expenses, up 9.7%; staff costs up 11%, while supplies were broadly stable. As discussed with all of you during the past, we don't see reasons to have cost increases materially deviating from these increases that we are seeing in the first half through the rest of the year. As you know, staff costs reflect the salary reviews, increase in the head count and also increasing the variable remuneration and higher social security costs that the company is suffering. Within other operating expenses, the main increases were related to maintenance, 21.5% increase; security, 9.8%; PRN Services, 15%; professional services, 8.8%; and VIP lounges, 35%. The increase in VIP lounges cost should always be read together with a strong growth in VIP revenues that are delivering a circa 32% increase in this first half of 2026. The item called other items reflect, sorry, an increase of circa 19%. Within this category, there are important increases related, for example, to passport controls. Several of these cost items lines are linked to activity levels, which have increased in the second quarter of this year more than in the first quarter of the year, operational requirements, service quality levels, expansion of specific services and also the pressure that we are having in labor costs that are transferred to us by our suppliers. Let me turn to commercial activity. We can move to Slide 14, 1-4. As you know, as explained by Javier, traffic increased by around 3.7% in the Spanish network, with sales increasing by circa 6% in our commercial activities. Total business revenue, which includes, sorry, fixed and variable rents plus the minimum under guarantee rents to be invoiced this year, amounted to a bit more of EUR 1 billion, increasing by 9% year-on-year. The strongest component was -- the strongest component of this growth was the fixed and variable rent, which increased by 9.6%. MAG revenues increased by circa 5% to -- by EUR 156 million. Commercial revenue growth was not only volume driven. It was also supported by an increase in the total business per pax of 5.4% this quarter and 4.7% in the first 6 months of 2026. This performance confirms the positive results of the contractual structures, the ongoing renewal of the commercial offer, the track record of the businesses managed internally by the company and the positive evolution of the real estate services. If we go to Slide 15, retail sales increased ahead of passenger growth in the first half of this year. And retail revenue reached the figure of EUR 550 million, an increase of 3.2%. Within retail, duty-free was broadly stable. F&B increased by 6.7% to EUR 189 million and specialty shops increased by 9.9% to EUR 72.7 million. In particular, duty-free sales and variable rents grew by 9% and 7.3%, respectively, supported by the reopening of refurbished spaces and new concepts in Madrid, Barcelona and Palma. However, reported duty-free revenue was broadly flat. All the lots are operating under [ MAGs ], except for the Canary Islands lot, while [ Levante ] and Balearics and the [ north loads ] are close to surpass the MAGs thresholds, hopefully in the following months. F&B continued to show a positive trend. Sales increased by 7% and revenues by 6.7%, supported by new contracts and the progressive renewal of the offer, particularly in Madrid and Barcelona. Mobility revenue reached EUR 239 million, up 6.7%. Car parks increased by 9%, driven by price management and better optimization of available spaces. And car rental business increased by 4.6%, supported by new licenses and although still very small, by the continued development of the right [indiscernible], sorry, activity in our airports, with an 80% increase. VIP services were again the strongest performer, with revenue increasing by 31.7% to EUR 124.7 million. VIP lounges represented approximately 81% of this revenue line, sorry, supported by higher penetration and capacity expansion. I'm sure many of you have seen the new offer proposed that Madrid Barajas airport under the brand of [ Altitude ]. This is part of the capacity expansion that I was referring earlier. The fast track and fast lane business line increased significantly too, with revenues amounting to EUR 15.6 million and user -- the volume of users moving up to 2.2 million. Although advertising remains a relatively small contributor to the total commercial revenue, it was one of the fastest-growing activities within the portfolio, with first half revenue increasing by around 13%, supported by particularly strong demand at Madrid Barajas airport. Real estate services increased by 15% to EUR 70 million, as commented by Javier, supported by cargo, FBO activity, hangars and other real estate developments. Overall, the results show a very well-diversified commercial performance coming -- with revenues coming not only from retail but also mobility, VIP and real estate businesses. If we look at the MAGs at the minimum annual guarantee rents in Slide 16, you can see an increase versus the figures that we reported with the financial information for the previous year of around EUR 90 million of MAGs increase for 2027 and 2028. The slide summarizes the commercial contracts that were tendered and awarded during the first half of 2026 for specialty shops and for F&B. For specialty shops, Aena published 31 tenders covering 63 premises during the first half of this year. Of this, 22 tenders covering 44 premises were awarded. The award MAGs implied an increase versus 2025 of 82% for 2027 and 83% for 2028. And these increases are distributed among the following in airports, mainly Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Malaga, and Alicante. If we look at F&B, Aena published 25 tenders covering 51 premises, of which, 20 tenders covering 41 premises have been awarded. These awards implied MAG increases of 11% for 2027 and 37% for 2028 versus 2025 levels. Let me go -- let me finish with a review of the international assets. I think we can go to Slide 20 -- to Slide 20, sorry. The figures -- the traffic figures have already been explained by Javier earlier. So if we look at the revenue increase of Luton of 4.4% in sterling pounds, with io revenue contributing circa GBP 92 million, an increase of circa 9%, with commercial revenue increasing by more than 10% at 11% to GBP 95.8 million. Reported EBITDA decreased by 25%, materially impacted by the extraordinary nonrecurring revenues that contributed to the EBITDA in 2025. I would like to say with all of you that Luton contributed EUR 83 million to the group of -- the group EBITDA in this first 6 months of 2026. With respect to OpEx of EBITDA, yes, I would like to mention that a slightly reduction in EBITDA margin that you can see once adjusted or taking into account the impacts of the previous year are mainly explained by the increase in the concession fee to the grantor in Luton because that increase is related to more passengers, inflation adjustment, but also to the end of the special force majeure protection that we had after COVID, that ended in March of this year. Let's have a look at Brazil, ANB and BOAB portfolios. ANB continued to deliver solid growth in both revenues and profitability. Passenger traffic increased by 6.4%, with Recife reaching 5 million passengers, up 4.5%. Revenue increased by 11.7% in Brazilian reals, aero revenues increasing by 8.6%, while commercial revenues increased by circa 20%. The main contributors to commercial growth were car rental, F&B and cargo activities. Construction services increased by 2.7% to BRL 20 million. EBITDA increased by 16% and the EBITDA margin improved as well, from 58% to 60%. ANB contributed [ EUR 37 million ] to the group EBITDA of Aena. In short ANB combined traffic growth, commercial revenue growth and margin expansion in this period. If we go to Slide 20 -- 22, sorry, referring to the Congonhas' portfolio. Passenger traffic increased by 2.8%, with Congonhas Airport reaching more than 12 million passengers, with an increase of 4.1%. Revenue increased by 42.1%, mainly explained by the material increase in IFRIC 12 revenues that increased by 72.3%. If we look at underlying operating business, aero revenue increased by 5.1% and commercial revenue increased by more than 30%, driven mainly by advertising, F&B and VIP lounges. EBITDA increased by 17%. The reported EBITDA was 27% compared to 32% in the first half of 2025. However, as you know, this is materially impacted by IFRIC 12. So if we look at the margins, there was margin expansion as well as the Congonhas portfolio, BOAB, with an improvement to 65% of margin compared to 63% in the previous year. The Congonhas portfolio contributed EUR 63 million in the first half of 2026. Javier has already referred to the important operational milestone, reaching the delivery of the construction projects in a number of airports in this portfolio. As in the case of the ANB, the Congonhas portfolio continues to execute its investment program while improving underlying EBITDA and the commercial performance. Finally, the new comer, Augusta. This is the first time that we are reporting information on Leeds Bradford and Newcastle. The contribution of Augusta in the first half of 2026 is still small because the integration in the portfolio happened in the very first days of May. Revenue totaled [ EUR 13.5 million ] and EBITDA amounted to GBP 6.9 million. The financial contribution is still limited, but the asset, as I was referring was -- the contribution from an EBITDA standpoint only started in the very first week of May. Let me finish with a very brief comment on the leverage position. All of you will have seen an increase in the net debt-to-EBITDA levels at the mother company at group level. This is mainly explained for 2 reasons. The first one, the most important one, the dividend payment that took place after the first quarter, EUR 1.6 billion going to our shareholders. Thank you very much for your support. And secondly, because of the CapEx evolution at Congonhas but also the integration and payment, the financial flows taking place in relation to the project of Augusta. This is the end of my review. So happy to start with the Q&A session afterwards. Thank you very much. Charlie, you can begin.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from [ Tobias Prem ] of Bernstein.

In early June, the CNMC recommended that the reclassification of Barcelona occurred in the construction works from relevant to strategic investments. That would excuse your group to the execution risk of deploying the CapEx. I was just wondering, what you think about that? And how would you argue that it should continue to be relevant rather than just strategic?

Well, we have to wait to the final DORA. I mean the opinion of the CNMC is very important. And in fact, Barcelona Airport expansion is strategic, but it is strategic from the point of view of the city of the airport of the region of Aena. But from the point of view of the definition of strategic in terms of compliance with the regulation is different because that represents that you have to end at one date. So we'll have to wait the final document that is approved by the Board of Ministers. And in any case, if there is limitations out of the hand of Aena and that in the case of Barcelona project, there are many because we need to have many administrative process as many approvals that do not depend on Aena, well, that has to be taken into account in the compliance of the DORA. But anyway, I think we don't want to speculate about the final result of the of the [indiscernible].

Our next question comes from Cristian Nedelcu of UBS.

My question is on the dividend prospects on the midterm. Two of the large European airports have a dividend policy that is linked to how financial leverage develops going forward. Do you believe there is merit in considering a similar approach with a fixed dividend and a variable portion of the dividend dependent on financial leverage over time? And in relation to this, what is the maximum financial leverage at Aena SME that you would feel comfortable with?

Cristian, this is Ignacio. And thank you very much for your 2 questions. With respect to dividend policy, we -- once we have DORA, as you know, we will work on the strategic plan. At that moment in time, we'll have a whole new set of plans for the company. And that will be the time that we present to the market, our updated views on the dividend policy for Aena and for the group. Having said all that, Cristian, with the numbers, with the analysis that we have in front of us, I'm happy to repeat the message that we have been saying with all of you, that we don't see a risk to deviate from the existing dividend policy of 80% of payout. This is the highest. And we believe that something that is simple, straightforward, sometimes it's better than having a situation in which dividends are subject to a number of conditions. So that would be my reaction to your first question. With respect to your second question on a specific net debt to EBITDA leverage for the mother company, I think that the domestic that we have said with the market is that we don't see any risk in the company deviating from the existing and strong credit metrics that we have. Of course, that net debt to EBITDA will go up and will be -- we have compared to the existing number, to the existing ratio. But we don't think that, that increase will reflect -- will deteriorate materially the credit metrics -- the strong credit metrics of the company. That's why we are not expecting a deterioration or deviation from the existing ratings that we have.

Yes. Javier. Adding something and again, I mean, we are in the last stage of getting DORA approved. So we must not speculate about the future. Unfortunately, we have to wait some weeks or some couple of months to know a little bit the future. There is a common assumption that the only point in discussion is the airport charges, but the other important points is the CapEx that has to be approved or modified by the regulator. So I mean it's better not to consider some assumptions as sure another in doubt. So we have to wait some weeks to see what is approved. The quality is also an important point that has to be approved by the by the regulator. Perhaps we see some changes. And well, once we have that, as we have announced, we're prepared -- we prepare our strategic plan and we'll be done before the end of the year. But now, everything around the new strategic plan, unfortunately, in July, you have to wait some weeks.

Perfect. Our next question comes from Graham Hunt of Jefferies.

And maybe just on the remainder of the DORA process and the rest of the year. Could you just remind us if there's anything outstanding on your side or if you're still working with the DGAC on finalizing any requests from them? And assuming we pass through the September deadline as expected, should we expect a broader strategic update in the fourth quarter of the year?

Now the DORA process is out of -- completely out of our hands, we sent our proposal in February and we have no way to introduce any change or any opinion on the process. So we have to wait.

And on a wider strategic update in the fourth quarter?

Graham, we -- because we will have to digest the DORA, finalize the rest of the business lines and analysis taking into account the final DORA approved by the cabinet, and we will need some weeks. So that's the reason why it will take some time after DORA been approved.

Our next question comes from Elodie Rall of JPMorgan.

Yes. Can I just follow up on that, please? If you see any risk to the regulation given the better-than-expected traffic this year? And second, if you could give us an update on your M&A pipeline, there is any more to come? And where would that come? Where would that be?

Well, as we have mentioned, traffic is performing better than expected at the beginning of the year. But still, there is uncertainty for the rest of the year and winter season. Anyway, in our forecast, the forecast we did to prepare our DORA proposal, we took into account some limitations we have in capacity at some of our major airports at peak times. So as we have said that we consider that perhaps traffic is around 3%, perhaps higher or lower than that. But around that, I think with the information we have at this moment, we have to continue taking into account that we will have those limitations. If we end this year with more traffic in Barcelona, we can grow with the same growth rate that we foresaw when we thought that we were going to end with lower traffic. So I mean, there is an important limitation. A part of the other limitations that we set when we sent that. Now the airlines have said, no, no, no, we are going to fly in other months of the year and so on. Well, we have capacity, not at peak times or not at peak seasons, but it's not easy to change the demand, especially in a country where summer season is the most important season in the year, and the demand is not only conditioned by the airlines and the airports, but is also conditioned by the hotels and touristic -- tourist sector, which as you know that this sector is not ready to attend a higher demand in winter season. So well, we have those limitations. So of course, the limitation -- the higher number of passengers that we expect to have this year, of course, have to have an impact on the volumes we are going to manage in the -- because we'll start at a higher level in 2027, but we can't grow a very high growth rates over the 5 years period. Well, you asked something about M&A. I think, well, we are focused now in the operations we have, both in the Augusta operation. We have 3 assets in U.K. and we are closing the deal of Rio de Janeiro and we have to integrate that airport in our network. They are in Brazil in order to get as soon as possible the synergies that we have taken into account when we presented the proposal. So at this moment, we are not looking at any operation. And also, we'll reflect on that in the strategic plan that we present in the last weeks of the year.

Our next question comes from Luis Prieto of Kepler Cheuvreux.

I had a couple of them. The first one is that the press has been reporting that you have been invoicing for [ COVID MAGs ], those tenants who have not settled company. What should we expect on this front going forward? Could you shed a bit of light? And the second question, I don't want to call it speculation, but just to get ideas. If the [ easyJet ] takeover went ahead, hypothetically, what is your take on any potential impacts on Aena in particular.

Well, Luis, about the COVID discussions we have had with the commercial operators, well, this is difficult to explain because it's a very complicated legal process. But the reality is that last year, we had a resolution from the Supreme Court, and they gave an opportunity to change the pace, we could say. We have proposed all of our operators agreement that we have signed with several of them, and some of them have not accepted that deal -- that agreement. So for those that have not accepted the deal, we go to a previous stage where they don't have protection about their rents. So we are obliged to invoice them. The rent that was also in the original contract. That is the moment where we are now. So -- well, these days, some of the operators, we are working on this over the last months. In fact, we announced, I think, in the first quarter, accounts that we have reached an agreement at least with Areas, which was -- Areas is the major food and beverage operator at our network. We have reached agreement with others. And these last days, some operators said that we are doing something illegal. It's not illegal what we are doing. We have to invoice the rents that are in the contract, in the original contract, and it's our obligation to do that to protect the interest of our shareholders. And well, our view is that we'll continue agreeing with some of them, and it's the right of them to continue with the legal disputes. With those that we are agreeing, of course, we close all the disputes. And I think more will reach agreement with many of them. Well, about easyJet, maybe that is soon to say something about easyJet. Well, we have to see how the operation evolves, what is the -- how the European regulation could affect them. And well, easyJet is an important operator at our network, but we are seeing how other airlines are announcing very important plans for -- to increase their operations at our airports that, for example, Wizz Air, for example, Jet2, and well, we will see -- I mean, the transport industry is very dynamic. And when one airline disappear or reduce or increase its operation, other come to operate. The important for us is that we have very competitive airports. We have capacity. We have good quality. And despite the opinion of other airlines, we are also very competitive in airport charges. So we will follow the -- with the evolution of the new structure of easyJet, but we are not concerned about that at the moment.

Our next question comes from Andrew Lobbenberg of Barclays.

I just wondered if you could comment on the continuing loud campaign from Ryanair complaining about airport charges and the structure of charges at regional airports. Do you think there's a possibility that, that campaign will calm down once the DORA defines future charges? Or how are you going to learn to live with this? And slightly related to it. I think there was some new story about some developers seeking to set up an independent secondary Madrid Airport, which is limited to only 1 million passengers, but Ryanair are celebrating this. Do you think this is going to be a reality? And is it in any form, a strategic threat if people think they can deliver micro airports to compete against you?

Well, Ryanair, what they say in Spain is the same they say across Europe. Well, they want to reduce airport charges. We are never happy with airport charges. And -- but -- to be honest, we are not concerned about that. I think they have to grow. We are -- Aena is the first airport operator for Ryanair. Also Ryanair is very important for Aena, is the first individual airline for us. And they continue -- will continue growing. Now they have a limited number of aircrafts, and they base -- those aircraft, where they get more profitability and they get more profitability through a higher yield in the major airports. So what we see is that when they have decided to abandon or to leave some of the regional airports, there are other airlines that go there because the demand is there. The problem is that it takes some time, as immediately, the airlines need time to plan. We have seen how airports like [ Jerez ] in Andalucia, it's growing again once Ryanair decided to leave Jerez or some airports in the Canary Island or in Santiago, Santiago Compostela in Galicia, where, very, very soon, we have -- we are going to see announcement of competitor of Ryanair, which is going to announce a base there and several routes there. So well, I think Ryanair will continue growing in Spain, not only at the major airports, but also at the regional airports because, well, there are opportunities there for the industry, and I'm sure they will take those opportunities. So well, nothing operationally as we have always repeated. They are very good operationally, and they lead the industry in some way. But in terms of public speech, well, they are not easy, but they are predictable in some way because they're saying the same, every country around Europe. Talking about the new airport, well, the new airport, the new idea or project, but it's not new. It's not new. And in the last weeks, where we have seen some news about this project because, well, in the -- taking the opportunity of public speech of Ryanair, they ask, would you like to have another airport in Madrid to compete with Barajas? Yes, I would like to do that well. And -- but I think, probably technically speaking, and there is difficulty in being compatible, the space of around this new location with the rest of the airports or air basis in Madrid, there is -- we have Madrid airport, Madrid Barajas airport, but there are also 2 military bases. And a place where this airport is located -- would be located is, I think that it has some progress of compatibility with the air space with the route to land and take off there. But anyway, we have proposed to the regulator, a very ambitious project to expand Barajas. And well, I think it's a great advantage to have this airport in Madrid. Madrid Barajas airport, where we have something which is -- the main advantage of Barajas is that we have the environmental permission to grow up to 120 operations per hour. That is a great advantage. I would say it's a luxury for us to have that because that is very difficult to increase capacity in their site by growing runway, so expanding the current runways. So what we are going to invest in Barajas is terminal, terminal because we need the terminal buildings to process passengers, but we have the great advantage of having 4 runways with capacity of 120 operations per hour, perhaps is the airport in Europe with more with more capacity available to grow in the future. So talking about the second airport, I think with the technical difficulties, I think, is -- does not make sense.

Our next question comes from Dario Maglione of BNP Paribas.