YOUR VIEWS

My wife and I have been visiting your beautiful island for family holidays since 1980 and since 1987 have been co-owners of an apartment in Santa Ponsa. We live in Scotland and wished to spend some time on the island this November but find that there are now no direct scheduled or charter flights this winter to Palma from any Scottish airport – Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Prestwick – nor are there any from Newcastle in the north of England.

They cease at the end of October and don't recommence until April.
This is a new problem - Globespan used to fly weekly in winter and daily in summer from Scotland and their planes were always busy, but sadly they were bankrupted by an [allegedly] crooked credit-card dealer.

To get to Palma this November we will have to drive for 5 hours to Manchester to catch a Palma flight.

No wonder the restaurants, bars and traders in Santa Ponsa complain that their businesses are very quiet! Jet2 only took over many of Globespan's summer slots. Can Jet2, easyJet, Air Europa, Thomsonfly, Thomas Cook or even Ryanair not be persuaded to put on weekly winter flights from Glasgow or Edinburgh for the many Scots who previously visited the island regularly in winter?

Frank Toner
Scotland

Dear Sir, I note that it is your opinion that package holiday tourism has had it´s day and that people who attend congresses will help to substitute the lack of income to the island if these tourists did choose to go somewhere else.

Firstly, I very much doubt that this would be the case, and secondly, as you mentioned our very own Palacio de Congresos is situated on the sea front, when only a few lines further down the same page, your correspondent, Mr Fleming, states that inland venues are now more in demand.

Maybe they should pull it down now and rebuild it in Sineu, or even better in Costitx. I am sure the local mayoress must have a bit of spare cash to finish the job if this were the case.

Yours sincerely, Simon Tow