Spain’s government is to partially privatise AENA, the national aviation authority.<br /><br />It will sell up to 49 percent of the operator, which has stakes in 46 Spanish airports and more than 20 others abroad.<br /><br />After years of losses, AENA made a profit – 597 million euros – for the first time last year, due to cost cuts.<br /><br />The government will sell 28 percent of it in a public offering on the Spanish stock exchange, Public Works Minister Ana Pastor said, and an additional 21 percent will be auctioned to long-term investors. <br /><br />The government is also to open up one of the country’s railway passenger routes to a private company.<br /><br />Pastor told a news conference: “We want to provide a better range of services for the rail market, and also more competitive prices from increased competition. We want more people using the railways.”<br /><br />This will end the monopoly of the state rail company RENFE. <br /><br />The line to be opened up – for an initial seven year period – is the high-speed passenger route between Madrid and the eastern coastal cities of Valencia and Alicante.<br /><br />with Reuters
