The Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC) has published the resolution from the Ministry of Public Works, Housing, and Mobility formalizing the new collaboration agreement between the State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) and the Government of the Canary Islands. This institutional agreement grants AESA direct control and supervision of air operations at the archipelago's restricted-use aerodromes. The agreement unblocks the regulatory framework for El Berriel aerodrome, a strategic aeronautical infrastructure located in the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, next to the Maspalomas tourist coastline.
For El Berriel, the historic home of the Royal Aero Club of Gran Canaria and a logistics center for general aviation operations, pilot schools, parachute jumps, and emergency missions in the south of the island, the agreement establishes a very rigorous two-phase administrative process. Any functional modification to the runway or sheltered areas will require the operator to initiate the procedure with the Directorate General of Transport of the Government of the Canary Islands. This office will forward the files to the technical teams of engineers and pilots at AESA (Spanish Aviation Safety Agency) in Madrid for their technical evaluation.
The text of the agreement, signed in Madrid by the director of AESA, Montserrat Mestres Domènech, and the regional minister of Public Works, Pablo Rodríguez Valido, responds to an opinion from the State Attorney's Office. This legal consultation clarified that autonomous communities with exclusive statutory powers over transport infrastructure that is not of general state interest are legally obligated to exercise these powers without exception, preventing the State from assuming oversight due to inaction by the regional administration.
Under this new regulatory framework, the Government of the Canary Islands will be the sole authority responsible for authorizing the establishment, structural modification, and final opening to traffic of restricted runways and heliports in the archipelago. However, given the lack of its own regulatory body within the autonomous community, the regional government has opted to safeguard operational safety by relying on the State's inspection arm. AESA will retain exclusive authority to verify compliance with the mandatory technical standards outlined in Royal Decree 1070/2015 before any flight permit is issued.
The agreement establishes a maximum period of six months for the Directorate of Airports and Civil Aviation Security of AESA to determine whether the projects comply with ICAO international guidelines. The technical procedure includes documentary review inspections prior to the construction phase and, critically, on-site inspections of the runway before authorizing its opening to air traffic. In these regulatory control missions, state inspectors may be accompanied by technicians from the Government of the Canary Islands as observers.
The legal framework strictly regulates environmental and navigation procedures. Developers of restricted aerodromes must independently obtain an airspace compatibility report from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and pass the corresponding environmental impact assessment filter regulated by Law 21/2013. For facilities located outside areas of special natural protection, a simplified environmental assessment will be required if the land modifications generate significant adverse effects detected by the Canary Islands authorities.
The enforcement and routine inspection aspects will also be carried out under a system of close coordination. AESA will retain punitive powers and continuous oversight of safety conditions at El Berriel in accordance with the Air Safety Law, applying penalties to tourist or sports operators who violate the permitted limits of use and operation. For its part, the regional government assumes the obligation to coordinate with ENAIRE the submission of all technical data sheets and aeronautical data variations for official publication in the Aeronautical Information Guide (AIP).
The agreement includes a section on the Plan for the Regularization of Aeronautical Infrastructure of Public Interest (PRIA), developed by AESA to stabilize the legal status of medical heliports and bases dedicated to the prevention and suppression of forest fires. Formalizing the agreement provides the runways in southern Gran Canaria with crucial legal certainty for aerial work and private aviation companies, guaranteeing the viability of El Berriel as an alternative logistics hub on the Atlantic connectivity map.
