Further subsidy for air and sea travel

CENTRAL government in Madrid has included in its State budget funds to cover a rise in discount from 38 to 45 percent on air and sea travel for Balearic residents. The discounts will be on inter-island flights and ferry journeys, as well as on air and sea travel between the Islands and the mainland.
Central government said that the funding set aside for national air and maritime transport will go up in 2006 to a total of 367.58 million euros. This increase will be used to help European Union residents living in Spanish territory away from the mainland benefit from discounted fares in their journeys to the mainland or between the region's Islands. Central government said that in order for these discounts to be really effective, the past few years have seen a gradual increase in funding to the point where there will be a 50 percent transport subsidy in place by the year 2007. The government is also to make 4.35 million euros available for subsidising merchant shipping routes and air freight transport between the Balearics and the mainland and vice versa. There will also be financial aid for exporting freight from the Islands to overseas countries.