Central Government guarantees Balearic 50 percent air fare discounts

THE 50 percent discount on air fares for European Union residents in the Balearics is guaranteed on inter-island flights and connections with the mainland, Central Government said yesterday.

Repeating its commitment to paying half the regional air fare tariff, the Ministry for Public Works said that the discount “is not only totally guaranteed for 2011, but will also be included in the national budget for 2012, the year in which the current Spanish government ends its term of office.” However, Secretary of State for Transport Gutiérrez said yesterday that the ministry is still going to meet with the airlines serving the routes on which discounts are permitted to negotiate lower fares.

With critics of the subsidies accusing airlines of keeping their prices artificially high because they know the state will pay half, Central Government is apparently not convinced that prices need to be so excessive.

Gutiérrez did, however, recognise that there were some airlines who had established a fixed tariff for inter-island flights and connections with the mainland that were not swayed by market demand. He furthered that these services should form the basis of a public air transport system in the Balearics, enabling residents to have full accessibility to local connections.

The Transport Secretary said that any moves made by Central Government to make the system more efficient will be first agreed in a Bilateral Transport Committee being set up in collaboration with the Balearic government.

Gutiërrez's statements came in response to a question from Jose Manual Bar, Socialist MP representing the Balearic Islands regarding the guarantee of the 50 percent discount and Central Government plans to make the subsidies more “efficient.” Bar pointed out that it was to the credit of the Socialist government, both centrally and regionally, that discounts had been increased from 33 to 50 percent.