60 percent choose low cost airlines

Joan Collins SOME 61.6 percent of airline passengers arrive in the Balearics on one of the low cost airlines, a much higher percentage than the national average of 30.4 percent, according to figures published yesterday by the Institute for Tourist Studies (IET). In total, Balearic airports handled 465'717 international passengers flying on low cost airlines in the first three months of this year, some 3 percent less than in the same period last year and 15.2 percent of all arrivals in Spain. This maintains the downward trend seen in the last few months and which contrasts sharply with the upward national trend of 9.2 percent. In March a total of 196'362 passengers came to the Balearics on low cost airlines, some 7.9 percent less than in the same month last year. This was the only fall recorded among all the airports in the main autonomous tourist regions and in the other direction to the increase of 6 percent nationally. In spite of this fall, Palma airport was the airport which handled the most “low cost” passengers during the first three months of the year, with 465'089 travellers, some 2.8 percent less, followed by Barcelona (440'156), Malaga (403'089) and Alicante (354'385). In March Palma airport once again handled the most passengers flying with the low cost airlines, with 195'737 travellers, some 7.6 percent more than 12 months before. On the other hand, Palma airport received 15.1 percent less passengers flying with traditional airlines during the first three months of the year (286'912), 17 percent of these arriving in March (142'513). According to a study by the national Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, some 61.3 percent of passengers flying to the Balearics with low cost airlines are from various German airports flying almost exclusively with Air Berlin. Traditional airlines transported 15.2 percent less international passengers to the islands during the first three months of the year, with 295'526 travellers. There was a sharp fall in March (-17.7 percent, with 146'378 passengers). In total, Balearic airports received 761'243 passengers from abroad between January and March, some 8.2 percent less, the sharpest fall coming in March (-12.3 percent, with 342'737 passengers). Overall in Spain the number of passengers using low cost airlines rose by 9.2 percent during the first three months of the year, to 3.06 million, while those travelling with traditional airlines fell by 0.1 percent, to 7 million.