Spanish Airport Operator Aena Establishes Million-Euro Literary Prize

The Spanish literary market is experiencing unprecedented excitement following the decision by the company Aena to establish a new narrative prize. The award, valued at one million euros, matches the amount offered by the current financial leader in the industry – the publishing house Planeta. The renowned writer Rosa Montero has been appointed as the jury president, which is intended to guarantee the high artistic level and prestige of the new initiative. Representatives of Planeta called this news "good news" for the world of Spanish-language literature, emphasizing that healthy competition promotes readership. The Planeta Prize, founded in 1952 by José Manuel Lara Hernández, remained for decades the best-paid literary award in Spain, and in 2021 its value was raised to one million euros, surpassing even the Nobel Prize in Literature in this regard. Simultaneously, Aena finds itself at the center of economic and infrastructure debate. The management announced an ambitious plan to modernize regional airports, foreseeing annual investments exceeding 2.3 billion euros until 2031. The investments will include, among others, airports in Castile and León, as well as a thorough reform of the terminal in Granada and expansion of infrastructure in Córdoba. However, these plans are meeting resistance from low-cost carriers. Ryanair publicly criticized the operator's alleged monopoly, accusing it of applying excessively high airport fees while neglecting cost efficiency, which directly impacts ticket prices for passengers. „Las aerolíneas subestiman la seguridad al pedir aeropuertos baratos, mientras que para nosotros es la prioridad absoluta.” (Airlines underestimate safety when demanding cheap airports, while for us it is the absolute priority.) — Mauri Lucena The market situation in Europe was also commented on by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, calming sentiments regarding the impact of artificial intelligence on the economy. Lagarde emphasized that despite social concerns, Europe is not falling behind in the productivity race, and this technology is not currently causing the expected mass layoffs. This statement is significant in the context of the Spanish labor market, which is grappling with demographic challenges and rising public debt servicing costs, driven in part by record spending on the pension system.