Transport

Low-cost airline bases in Palma to double next summer

Air-traffic controllers in Palma said that at times during the summer there were too many flights coming in and out of the airport. | P. Lozano

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma21/12/2016 00:00

Palma's Son Sant Joan airport will next summer have a greater number of low-cost airline bases than any other Mediterranean airport, meaning that each day there will be 24 planes in position to fly to mainland and European airports.

Air Europa, Iberia Express, Ryanair and Vueling each operated a base this year, and there will be four more airlines in 2017 - easyJet, Germania, Germanwings and Jet2. The airport's director, José Antonio Álvarez, says that this doubling of bases will have a "positive economic impact on the airport and Majorca's tourism industry".

The airport will finish 2016 having registered a record number of passengers - 26.2 million. Álvarez notes that there have been 32 consecutive months of passenger growth and that this year there have been more than four months when the number of passengers has exceeded three million. "The statistics show that over six months the airport registered 20 million passengers."

The annual increase has therefore been around ten per cent, and over the months of the low season (from October to March) the expectation is that this growth percentage will be maintained. Information from airlines and tour operators suggests that the total number of passengers in 2017 will top the 27 million mark.

The airport can now count on direct flights to 168 destinations in 30 countries as well as on 80 airlines, a number that is likely to rise because of ongoing instability in certain Mediterranean countries.

On Tuesday, the airport celebrated the arrival of passenger number 26 million. Guillermo Bosch, who had flown in from Mahon, was given a bouquet of flowers.