Spain moves more than 145 million passengers annually on flights departing from our country, according to data from the national air traffic body ENAIRE (about which more below). In the summer of 2025 alone the Iberia Group operated more than 34,000 flights. https://grupo.iberia.es/news/31082025/grupo-iberia-cierra-el-verano-con-ms-de-34.000-vuelos-operados-en-una-temporada-rcord-de-conectividad We are the European country with the highest level of air connectivity — which is why thought it would be helpful to explain which organizations apply and develop civil aviation regulations in Spain, and how they interact with each other.
ICAO: The Organization That Works for Global Aviation Efficiency
The International Civil Aviation Organization is the supranational body that sets global aviation standards, and that of course is what makes it so important. This United Nations agency was created in 1944, and its main function is to manage and facilitate safe, sustainable, and efficient air transport worldwide.
ICAO experts work to achieve a high level of uniformity in air navigation regulations, international procedures, and everything related to civil aviation. The ICAO adopts a series of standards and methods, creating a regulatory model that member states follow to align with this commitment to uniformity. These aviation standards are known as SARPs (Standards and Recommended Practices) — and today, there are more than 12,000 such standards and recommended methods.
Of course, each country adapts these SARPs to its own legislation. Within them, ICAO always upholds several objectives:
- To promote safe, orderly, efficient, and economical air transport.
- To ensure international safety.
- To prevent waste of resources caused by unfair competition.
- To avoid bias among contracting states.
- And always to promote development and safety.
EASA: The European Entity That Adapts Aviation Standards for EU Member States
As members of the European Union, the second supranational body governing civil aviation for Spain is the European Aviation Safety Agency. It is responsible for ensuring safety in European airspace and also adapts and implements the standards developed by ICAO.
EASA is responsible for crucial areas such as:
- Inspecting and monitoring aircraft and system safety.
- Overseeing approvals and certifications of aeronautical products.
- Standardising air navigation regulations among all EU member states.
- Investigating any air accidents in cooperation with national authorities.
- Ensuring environmental protection through the highest standards.
- Guaranteeing the highest level of safety for EU citizens.
- Facilitating the aviation market within the EU and ensuring fair competition.
- Working in coordination with other international aviation organisations.
EASA also acts as a certifying body in the field of airworthiness. It provides support and oversight to EU member states where competences are shared, promotes the use of European and international standards, and cooperates with other international actors to achieve maximum safety for European citizens.
AESA: Spain´s National Regulatory Authority
If ICAO regulates civil aviation globally and EASA does so at the European level, the Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea (State Agency for Air Security) is responsible for aviation regulations within Spain. As you might imagine, one of its main roles is to adapt and implement the regulations issued by the EU (that is, from EASA).
AESA is part of the State Secretariat for Transport, which belongs to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, and its objective is to ensure that civil aviation regulations are followed throughout Spanish territory.
To do this, AESA supervises, inspects, and regulates everything related to air transport, air navigation, and airport safety. It also has the authority to penalize violations of these regulations. Beyond enforcement, it promotes air transport safety and the development and application of both national and international aviation law — always guided by principles of sustainability, quality, safety culture in the sector, and the protection of the rights of users and professionals.
Other Important Entities
The fact that air transport is the safest of all modes is also due to the large number of regulations governing civil aviation and the organizations that enforce them. We have already discussed the three main ones, but there are others worth mentioning:
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC)
Also under the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, like AESA, the DGAC coordinates bodies and entities with functions in civil aviation and serves as the sector’s regulator within state competences. Among its many functions are:
- Conducting studies and drafting strategic proposals for the sector.
- Developing and proposing regulatory frameworks.
- Processing regulatory proposals from AESA.
- Representing Spain in aeronautical matters before national and international bodies.
- Negotiating international air transport agreements.
ENAIRE
The state-owned company responsible for managing air navigation in Spain provides air traffic control, flight information, and alert services, among others, within more than two million square kilometers of managed airspace.