Just ahead of the duty free tender expected in the second quarter of this year, Spanish Public Works Minister Jos? Blanco has appointed Juan Ignacio Lema as the new President of Spanish Airport authority AENA.

As predicted, Lema replaces Encarnacion Vivancos, who took over from Manuel Azuaga last summer. Lema is a graduate in Aeronautical Engineering and has many years experience in the aviation and construction business. Lema was the general manager of Madrid Barajas Airport from 1992 to 1996 and then held several senior head office posts in AENA in the late nineties. Since May 2001, Lema has occupied senior positions at the San Jos? Construction Group, the company that built the new runways at Madrid Barajas.

Lema will be asked by Minister Blanco to assess the partial privatisation programme of Aena and get the project up and running as soon as possible. Given Lema?s extensive experience in the business and in-depth knowledge of how the airport authority works, the minister will also be hoping for a seamless transition at Barcelona El Prat, when the 500,000sq m Terminal 1 opens later this year.

The appointment of Lema as President of the airport authority will also be of great interest to travel retail operators as they await the announcement of the tender for the retail contract at Spanish airports.

Lema understands how AENA works and also understands the need for the authority to maximise revenues. Already there is speculation that there will be some changes in the AENA Commercial Department, however these are likely to be announced quickly and the tender is still likely to be called before the end of the second quarter of this year.