As is the case every winter, flights will predominantly be Spanish and German. | Archive

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The body that coordinates flight slots in Spain, AEFCA, is forecasting that Palma Son Sant Joan Airport will have its busiest winter season ever.

The season starts towards the end of October and is operational until towards the end of March. Over this period there will be 47,837 flights, an increase of 2.4% compared with 2022-23 and of 15.4% with 2019-20.

As to the number of seats, the increases by Spanish and foreign airlines are 14.3% (from 2019-20) and 24.3% (2022-23) - up to a total of 7,280,698. For individual months, November has the highest percentage increase - 17.4%. December is second with 16.4%.

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Sebastian Ebel, CEO of Europe's largest tour operator, TUI, says that travel reservations by the German market are in general up by 15%. As was shown by German tourist figures for Mallorca over the summer, economic conditions in Germany are not proving to be negative in terms of travel and holidaymaking.

Even so, while TUI and other operators - British and German - are optimistic when it comes to prospects for the winter season, there continues to be a nagging concern about the impact of inflation.

As to air fares, the Aviba association of travel agencies in the Balearics has attacked the pricing policies of Spanish airlines for their domestic and long-haul flights - prices are in some instances up significantly. In general, though, prices will progressively decrease, but there will be periods when - and no surprise - they will be high, Christmas most obviously.

Easter in 2024 is early - March 31 is Easter Sunday. Flights and seats for this period will be subject to airlines' summer schedules.