The leadership structure of Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas has collapsed under the weight of an escalating judicial investigation, as president Julio Martínez Sola and chief executive officer Roberto Roselli officially stepped down from their respective posts.
The Anatomy of a Corporate Resignation
For months, the trajectory of Plus Ultra has been inextricably bound to courtroom scrutiny. Martínez Sola and Roselli made the decision to vacate their leadership positions while remaining formally under investigation by Spain’s Audiencia Nacional and the nation’s anti-corruption prosecution office, Fiscalía Anticorrupción. The legal pressure intensified dramatically following recent court filings in which both executives acknowledged signing a controversial auxiliary contract with a firm belonging to Julio Martínez Martínez. This agreement reportedly funneled hundreds of thousands of euros into outside accounts under the guise of mediation and accompaniment services during the state bailout negotiations.
According to shareholder sources close to the airline, minority shareholder Hugo Castaño is slated to step into the newly consolidated role of executive president, absorbing the duties previously split between the chairman and the CEO. Yet, this succession plan is far from a done deal. Because the carrier remains classified as a supervised entity due to the public funds it received, Castaño’s appointment requires the explicit green light of the Sociedad Española de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), the state holding agency tasked with overseeing pandemic rescue funds.
Unraveling the Bailout Commissions and Business Ties
The seeds of the current leadership crisis were planted long before these resignations, tracing back to a sprawling investigation led by Spain’s Unidad Central de Delincuencia Económica y Fiscal (UDEF). In December 2025, following a year of preliminary inquiries, both Martínez Sola and Roselli were detained by UDEF agents before being subsequently released. The inquiry focused squarely on how the airline secured a vital 53 million euro injection from the state’s solvency fund for strategic companies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recent written confessions submitted to the Audiencia Nacional shed light on how a portion of that financial lifeline was allegedly diverted. Martínez Sola confessed that Plus Ultra entered into a formal arrangement with Idella Consulenza—a firm owned by Julio Martínez Martínez—tying executive remuneration directly to the outcome of the SEPI rescue procedure. The contract stipulated a success fee of 1 percent of the total bailout plus value-added tax.
Paper trails unearthed by investigators revealed that the promised 1 percent commission, amounting to roughly 530,000 euros, was systematically channeled through three distinct corporate entities linked to Martínez Martínez: Análisis Relevante S.L., Voli Analítica S.L., and IOT Domotic Europe S.L. Court documents outline the specific breakdown of these transactions, showing 249,000 euros paid to Análisis Relevante S.L., 98,617.53 euros to Voli Analítica S.L., and 110,799.47 euros to IOT Domotic Europe S.L.
Beyond the direct monetary wire transfers, the filings also exposed unconventional perks. Investigators noted that the total compensation package included extensive payments in kind, quantified by numerous uncompensated business-class flights—totaling 46 separate trips—requested and consumed by Julio Martínez Martínez without out-of-pocket expense.
Broader Implications for State-Aided Aviation
As Hugo Castaño prepares to take the reins pending regulatory clearance, the immediate future of the airline hangs in the balance.
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