The liberalisation of transport infrastructure and Spanish investment in the international market: Latin American airports and the case of AENA

Abstract

The liberalisation of the international air transport markets has also affected transport infrastructure. This paper studies how the airport management affiliates of the Spanish construction companies took advantage of the privatisation of the airport systems in Latin American countries at the end of the 1990s in order to enter these markets. This overall framework included the Spanish public company AENA which has internationalised in this new market segment. It adopted a strong capital investment policy which, in turn, became a public economic policy instrument to support private Spanish construction companies seeking to exploit new markets in emerging businesses.