Spanish airport authority Aena has taken note of the most common complaint from passengers: overpriced water. Aena is going to force all operators of vending machines and convenience stores in Spanish airports to sell small water bottles for no more than €1.
This condition has been included in the terms of the new tenders to acquire commercial space in the airports. Convenience stores and vending machines will have to sell 300-mililiter bottles at that price. Half a liter bottles, typically sold in vending machines, will also cost €1.
Aena plans to include tenders for tents, kiosks and vending machines in 19 of its airports selling water bottles for one euro, a price that is included in both the renewals of contracts and the new specifications.
Airports in which it is planned to include the sale of bottled water at 1 euro are in the coexistence stores (those of no more than 500 m2 and that remain open at least 18 hours a day) and of the airports of Gran Canaria, Tenerife North, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Malaga-Costa del Sol, Barcelona-El Prat and the International Airport of the Region of Murcia and Ibiza.
This new condition is already included in the contract of 19 shops at six airports (Madrid-Barajas, Palma de Mallorca, Bilbao, Tenerife South, Santiago, Vigo and Girona-Costa Brava).
This condition will also be included in the new vending machine contests at the airports of Seville, Jerez, Girona-Costa Brava, Palma Mallorca, Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, Málaga-Costa del Sol, Menorca, Barcelona-El Prat, Alicante-Elche , San Sebastian, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Burgos and the International Airport of the Region of Murcia.
Likewise, the Government indicates that Aena “is carrying out all the necessary actions so that all its infrastructures dispose of the sale of water at 1 euro available to the user, in commercial premises and/or vending machines, or for free installing sources of water”.
In this regard, it states that Aena already has 206 water sources in its facilities (52 on the land side and 154 on the air side) serving the passenger distributed at 24 airports on the network. In the rest, of lower affluence of passengers, apostille, are being installed gradually.
As detailed in the response sent by the Government, Aena has twelve airports in its network that have 38 commercial premises in which bottles of water are sold for 1 euro: Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas (14), Barcelona-El Prat ( 2), Palma de Mallorca (5), Alicante-Elche (3), Valencia (3), Seville (2), Bilbao (2), Girona-Costa Brava (1), Santiago (2), Vigo (1), Ibiza (2), and Fuerteventura (1).
Likewise, eight airports in the Aena network already have vending machines selling water bottles for 1 euro. Specifically, a total of 101 machines, which are distributed in the airports of Gran Canaria (38), Tenerife South (32), Fuerteventura (20), Vitoria (2), Valladolid (3), León (2), Salamanca ( 2), and Granada-Jaén (2).
There are also 134 vending machines inside six Spanish airports (Tenerife South, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, León, Vitoria and Salamanca) where 500-milliliter bottles are sold for €1.
Finally, the airport manager claims that in those airports where there are no water bottle vending machines with a price of 1 euro, this does not mean that they can not be offered for sale in commercial premises and/or free water is available through the installation of sources at airports.
Aena has also promised to increase the number of free drinking fountains.
