Transport

Pollensa seaplanes' project taken to Brussels

Miquel Buades of the aeronautical foundation (second left) in Brussels to discuss the seaplanes' scheme. | Fundacion Aeronautica Mallorquina

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPollensa18/12/2018 18:03

The Majorca Aeronautical Foundation has taken its proposal for a European Office for Hydroplanes to Brussels. The foundation sees this office as a means of innovation and development and would use the bay of Pollensa for pilot training. Pollensa town hall has expressed its outright opposition to the idea.

There was a meeting on 22 November between Miquel Buades, the president of the foundation, and Joachin Luecking, the European Commission's director-general of air safety. Following this meeting, Buades said the foundation wants the next Seaplane Splash (scheduled for Puerto Pollensa next May) to be a "grand coordination meeting" through contacts with different countries.

Buades has received the support of Balearic MEP Rosa Estaràs, who facilitated the meeting with Luecking. Estaràs, says Buades, is offering all her help so that Majorca can become the most important location for hydroplanes in the Mediterranean.

The project has been some four years in the development. It would be, explains Buades, a "wide and ambitious" scheme for making Majorca a centre for hydroplane innovation.

As well as the opposition from Pollensa town hall, the proposed project has run up against ministry of defence regulations. The Seaplane Splash is given exceptional clearance to be held, but the ministry has in the past indicated that it would not grant permission for more intensive use of the bay.