Britain's low cost rule the skies

19/07/2012 00:00

Palma.The Balearics continues to be the most popular destination in Spain for low cost airline passengers with 3.1 million passengers having jetted in to one of the region's three airports during the first six months of the year, 2.5 percent more than the first six months of 2011.

According to the Ministry for Industry's Institute for Tourism Statistics, the busiest of the Balearics' three airports has obviously been Palma's Son San Joan.

Busiest
Palma airport handled a total of 2.8 million passengers during the first half of this year making it the second busiest low cost airport in Spain behind Barcelona which has experienced a massive 26.2 percent increase in low cost traffic.

Here in Majorca, the increase in low cost passengers had been 2.8 percent since the start of the year although last month, the number of low cost passengers shot up by 6.6 percent in comparison to June of last year.

But, not only has there been further growth in the low cost market, the number of passengers flying on scheduled airlines has also risen in the Balearics since the start of the year.

According to the institute's data released yesterday, the scheduled market has grown by 4.2 percent so far this year.
But, the biggest low cost market is the UK.
German decline
The British have accounted for 35 percent of the low cost market this year, up by just 0.2 percent while the Germans command a 19.5 percent stake, 2.5 percent less than last year.

The Italians and the French make up the next two largest low cost markets.