Low cost airlines brought 2.8 million passengers to island

LOW cost airlines brought 2.8 million passengers to Palma's Son Sant Joan airport during the first nine months of this year, some 12.4 percent more in comparison with the same period last year. This made Son Sant Joan the Spanish airport most used by the low cost airlines, ahead of Malaga (1.8 million) and Barcelona (1.7 million). According to figures released yesterday by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, the Balearics was the second autonomous region to have most arrivals, with 23.6 percent of the total, just behind Catalonia with 24.1 percent, although Madrid registered an increase of 42 percent with 801'113 passsengers. By airlines, the three main ones were Ryanair (20.4 percent of the total with 2.77 million passengers), easyJet (20.4 percent and 2.76 million passengers) and Air Berlin with 19.2 percent of the total. Among the other low cost airlines Vueling stands out, occupying sixth place with a growth of 127.2 percent. The main country sending tourists here in the first nine months of 2006 was the United Kingdom, which sent 41.6 percent of the total with 5.6 million visitors, a growth of 9.9 percent.