The Government approved the rescue of Plus Ultra in March 2021 based on an unreal and falsified shareholding and control structure. This emerges from the contradiction that arises when contrasting the latest revelation to the judge by the airline’s president, Julio Martínez Sola, with the documentation submitted for the rescue to the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI), to which EL MUNDO has had access.
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In the document sent to the judge, Martínez Sola states that the control of Plus Ultra at that time was exercised by Rodolfo Reyes, of Venezuelan nationality, with 64%. “Rodolfo Reyes, as representative of the largest shareholder (64%), with control on the Board and general director (2017-2021), exercised power in the company.” Martínez Sola, who was vice president then, thus places the responsibility for the alleged crimes related to Zapatero on Reyes, but reveals a fact that could affect the legality of the state aid granted five years ago.
The State Air Safety Agency (AESA) only considers Spanish and grants operating licenses to airlines that meet the condition that “more than 50% of the company’s ownership, as well as its effective control, is in the hands of Member States or their nationals.” That is, if “effective control” is exercised by a Venezuelan citizen, the company cannot be considered an airline with an operating license in Spain and, therefore, would not have met the requirements to receive a state rescue of 53 million euros from the Fund for Support to the Solvency of Strategic Companies.
According to Martínez Sola’s document, “Rodolfo Reyes, therefore, maintained effective control of the company until his exit from the shareholding in October 2025.” In the documentation sent to SEPI in 2021, it was stated that Reyes’ nationality is “Venezuelan” with a tax identification number for a foreign citizen.
The then Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, precisely justified the state aid because the airline was strategic for Spain for having “a type A license” granted by AESA. Official sources from Plus Ultra downplay the new data about Rodolfo Reyes because they indicate that he was only a “representative” of a Spanish company called Snip Aviation, in which “the majority partner and owner was Aurora López, Rodolfo’s wife and of Spanish nationality.”
However, Martínez Sola’s judicial document reveals not only the aforementioned contradiction about Reyes having control of the company. There is also another: the percentage that Snip Aviation had in the airline, as reported by the company itself to SEPI and AESA – see attached reproduction – in 2021, was not 64%, but 45.33%.
Regarding this last piece of data, official sources from Plus Ultra explain to this newspaper that 11.47% of FlySpain must be added to that percentage. But this latter company was presented in the documentation sent to SEPI as a different company and not allied with Snip Aviation. In fact, Plus Ultra reported that it was represented not by Reyes, but by Fernando González Enfedaque, founder of Plus Ultra before the Venezuelan arrival.
In its decisive legal report, SEPI’s advisor, Deloitte, also presented Snip Aviation and FlySpain as different partners and does not show having had knowledge of the sale of the latter company to Rodolfo Reyes, as Martínez Sola assures had occurred. “There are no shareholder agreements currently in force in relation to the company,” Deloitte advised SEPI. If it was evident that Reyes owned both, it remains unclear why this was not taken into account in the legal report.
Along the same lines, SEPI assumed that Snip Aviation did not have the majority, because it included a clause according to which Plus Ultra had to return the entire rescue in advance if either of these two circumstances occurred, as this newspaper published on April 19: “A modification of the current shareholding composition by a percentage greater than 50% of the share capital; or the transfer of all or part of the shareholding in the share capital of the financed entity held by Snip Aviation.” The latter left the shareholding last year, according to Martínez Sola’s document, but SEPI did not force the return of the money.
Currently there would be no doubts about the existence of Spanish shareholders in Plus Ultra, but were there any at the time of the rescue? According to the guide offered by AESA to airlines that want to maintain their license in Spain, they must notify if there are changes of control in favor of non-EU citizens.
“According to AESA’s interpretation, Council Regulation (EC) 1008/2008 seeks to prevent effective control from being jointly exercised by groups of non-European shareholders. In all cases where non-European nationals have significant influence, it must be ensured that the ultimate decision-making power is in the hands of European investors,” says AESA, which is part of the Ministry of Transport.
