MADRID (AP) — The Spanish government has approved legislation to sell 49 percent of the national aviation authority AENA and also open up one of the country’s passenger rail routes to a private operator.
Public Works Minister Ana Pastor said Friday the government would maintain a 51 percent stake in AENA, keeping it state-controlled. She said AENA saw 188 million passengers travel through 46 airports in Spain last year.
Pastor said the government also aimed to begin ending the monopoly held by RENFE state rail company by allowing a private operator to compete on the high-speed passenger train route between Madrid and the eastern coastal cities of Valencia and Alicante for an initial period of seven years.
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