A sharp rise in air fares to the Balearics could prove to be a disaster.

A sharp rise in air fares to the Balearics could prove to be a disaster. | R.L.

Humphrey CarterPalma15/03/2022 10:12
TW
0

The last thing the Balearics needs is a surge in the price of air fares to the island, be it from the mainland or anywhere else, especially the region’s two key tourism markets: the United Kingdom and Germany.

The Balearic President, Francina Armengol is calling on central government to introduce measures to ensure that the islands do not get isolated by a hike in air fares, just when holiday bookings, for example, are taking off and looking very encouraging.

However, with the market said to be a late booking one, those people waiting to book at the last minute may be faced with higher air fares which could deter them from coming to the Balearics.

Obviously, any rise in air fares will be across the board, but there still could be some cheaper holiday destinations to fly to and that could cost the Balearics holiday makers in the long term.

One way of easing the impact of rising fuel prices would be for the Spanish airport authority AENA to reduce airport taxes and operating costs for airlines until the situation calms down.

I know AENA is always against any such a move because it will hit the massive profit it makes every year, but if airlines decide to start reducing their flights because of a fall in demand, then AENA is going to see a fall in revenue.

So perhaps taking a short term hit would work out in the long term.