YOUR VIEWS

I read increasingly of complaints from residents/visitors to the islands regarding a lack of winter flights to Palma, in particular Jason Moore's uphill struggle to convince the airlines to resume winter flights, however I think there is no point in trying to convince Willie Walsh to reintroduce winter flights when BA cancelled them some years ago during summer months coinciding with the sale of GB airways (with the exception of a few flights out of London City airport which are not convenient for the vast majority of passengers in the Southeast).

I still cannot understand why BA still fly from both London City and more importantly London Gatwick during the summer months to Ibiza and not Palma.BA fly several times a day to Faro in Portugal and they fly to even less popular tourist destinations such as Corsica a couple of flights a week. With the cancellation of flights to Palma on BMI there is not one airline apart from low cost carriers who fly from the UK to Majorca even in the high season summer months - surely there is something wrong here when the British make up a vast majority (only second to the Germans) of visitors to the island, I would have thought that Willie Walsh (or perhaps the new CEO of BA) could either pick up the BMI slots from Heathrow (surely to capture the increasing number of cruise ships departing from Palma such as Royal Carribean) or perhaps introduce some sort of code share with the Spanish national carrier Iberia (even they don't offer flights to Palma from the UK). Another possibility is for Air Berlin who have recently joined the One World Alliance with BA to introduce flights. Also regarding others who criticize the shops and hotels for not opening during winter months, we have to be realistic and accept that Majorca cannot compete with Dubai during winter months, however there is still opportunity for short breaks, with Palma having plenty to offer (if only restaurants and shops would remain open). I do also agree with others who have commented on the unique stringent regulations that Majorca imposes on Boat tax matriculation and holiday home rentals, the tourist department really need to wake up and bring the lovely island of Majorca in line with the rest of Europe who impose no such draconian rules. Once all the above points have been addressed, I feel that Majorca will have great opportunity to be a market leader in the European tourist industry.

Frances
London/Port Andratx