The new Sustainable Mobility Law endorsed this Thursday in the Congress of Deputies is going to make Renfe scratch its pockets again every time a high-speed or long-distance train arrives more than 15 minutes late to its destination. Although the railway operator does not seem willing to do so. The Popular Party has managed to advance an amendment to the Bill, supported by its absolute majority in the Senate, in which it demanded the recovery of the public operator’s previous compensation policy, reformed in 2024 with fewer guarantees for the traveler.
The text will now state that “the Government will recover with effect from January 1, 2026, Renfe’s punctuality and refund commitments prior to ″. “Compensation for 15 and 30 minutes of delay, of 50 and 100% of the amount respectively, in high-speed and long-distance services” will be guaranteed again. An extreme that will encounter resistance from the Government, according to sources from the Ministry of Transport, as it is understood that Renfe It would compete under inferior conditions with its rivals Iryo and Ouigo, to which the amendment of the law does not concern. In Transport, legal loopholes will be sought in defense of the AVE and Avlo operator.
Sources from said ministry have assured Efe that the PP amendment is “a demagogic operation and a toast to the populist sun,” which will not have an impact on users. And they have assured that the company will evaluate the legal formula to continue applying the current compensations, since they understand that the amendment only wants to penalize Renfe and not other companies.
After last year’s controversial change in Renfe’s compensation table, which was in force since the start of high speed in 1992, its trains must end the trip with more than 60 minutes of delay so that travelers have the right to refunds. The operator now refunds 50% of the ticket price for a delay of one hour, and only refunds 100% if the train enters the station 90 minutes or more after the scheduled time. In addition to the possibility of reimbursement in cash (or to a bank card), Renfe added the possibility of returning 200% of the amount to which one is entitled but in points to use on other trips. And a last option is to accept a purchase voucher for another ticket for a value of 150% of the compensable amount.
Renfe changed the traveler compensation clauses in the midst of an operational crisis and a price war that caused heavy losses for the company. The figure in compensation for delays was 42 million euros in 2023 and was paid, and continues to be paid, regardless of the causes of non-compliance with the schedule.
The socialist deputy Cristina López Zamora has said on the Congress platform that the amendment that concerns Renfe “punishes the public, forcing compensation that is not required of competitors.” The response of the popular Ana Martínez Labella has been with dart included: “Punctuality is also a right,” she recalled, pointing out that the train has been “in chaos” since Óscar Puente entered the Ministry of Transport.
The modification of the articles of the Sustainable Mobility Law will also cause a review of the environmental labels of the General Directorate of Traffic to be studied, and the concession map of large bus lines to be reviewed to guarantee that none of the localities served until now are left behind.
Aena sees its 12.9 billion plan safe
Where the PP has not found sufficient support, beyond the support of VOX, has been in the proposal to freeze rates for Aena. The amendment. The text shook the airport manager’s price on the 6th and included the imposition of new incentives for traffic at regional airports, as demanded by the leader in the Spanish skies, Ryanair.
The setback to the PP in the lower house allows Aena to move forward with its intention to launch a third Airport Regulation Document (DORA III) in which investments in the regulated part of the business are contemplated for almost 10,000 million until 2031, as announced by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez,. A figure charged to the rates that would be complemented with investments in the commercial part until a total of 12.9 billion euros.
“It is about avoiding [con la congelación tarifaria] that flying becomes a luxury and brings regional airports out of a coma,” defended the popular Martínez Labella before the vote. But the PSOE has been accompanied by its investiture partners (Sumar, Junts, ERC, Bildu and PNV) against this change in the Sustainable Mobility Law, which in Aena was understood as a torpedo launched by the opposition. The PP amendment has therefore remained an attempt to mark airport policy, with 178 votes against, 169 in favor and two abstentions.
Aena has indicated before the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) that what it saw as a blow has not passed the filter of the Congress of Deputies and, therefore, “the investment proposal remains unchanged in the procedure that is currently being processed for the final approval of DORA 3 by the Council of Ministers.” The company has a consultation period open with the airlines about its macro investment plan.
In September 2026, the third DORA should go ahead, after supervision by Civil Aviation and the CNMC, with expansion projects in more than a dozen airports (Madrid, Alicante, the two in Tenerife, Valencia, Malaga, Menorca, Ibiza or Bilbao, among others) and a tariff path (also air traffic and operating costs) for which the company headed by Maurici Lucena will have the hands. free.
It has not been like this in recent years. Between 2015 and 2025 Aena has been forced not to raise its prices in compliance with Law 18/2014. It was a transitional period that declines in 2026, in rates. The rule was articulated just before the airport manager’s listing on the stock market, with Mariano Rajoy’s PP in the Government. The freezing was possible, Aena sources defend, thanks to the fact that large investments such as the construction of T4 in Barajas or the extensions in Barcelona-El Prat and Mallorca were already carried out. With ten years of tariff constraints, the aim was to attract air traffic and fuel the tourism engine in the wake of the financial crisis.
“If the amendment were successful and the Cortes Generales limited by law the remuneration of Aena’s aeronautical activity without any rational economic argument, the damage to the Spanish airport system, to Aena and its shareholders could be considerable,” the company even indicated in a statement in reaction to the popular amendment. in view of the fact that investment is going to multiply by more than four, going from an average of 450 million annually to around 2,000 million euros in the regulated business. However, President Lucena has recently pointed out and execute the DORA 3 projects without penalizing credit quality. Those who do believe in the possibility are the airlines themselves, who see the foreseeable increase in air traffic as support for Aena’s greater investment effort.
The listed public company highlights, in defense of the competitiveness of its prices, that the average fare is 10.35 euros, a figure lower than the 11.11 euros that was set in 2015 (11.03 euros will be charged per traveler in 2026). If the effect of inflation is incorporated, the average price charged to airlines has fallen by more than 36% in the last 11 years. The public also defends itself against pressure from airlines, especially Ryanair, with information about the evolution of air tickets: they have increased by 28% on domestic flights and 9% on international flights in the period from summer 2022 to the summer season of 2025. In the same three years, rates have increased by 4.6% in Spain.
