Air force agrees to non-commercial seaplanes in Puerto Pollensa

The colonel-in-chief of the Puerto Pollensa base, Carlos Pérez Salguero, and the president of the Majorca Aeronautical Foundation, Miguel Buades, signed an "operational letter" on Tuesday for coordination between military and non-commercial flights. The main stipulation is that the security zone cannot be used.

The foundation will now forward the document the Spanish Air Safety Agency. It will have the final say in authorising civilian planes. Buades says that this new project will allow Puerto Pollensa to become better known in the aviation world both in Europe and North America. New visitors from both markets will be attracted.

The plan is for Puerto Pollensa to become a "European office" for hydroplanes in the Mediterranean. Buades has spoken in the past about Puerto Pollensa being a centre for the training of pilots.

A European congress on hydroaviation is meanwhile being planned for next year. Puerto Pollensa has been the location for the seaplane "Splash-In" over recent years, with planes arriving from different parts of Europe. Pollensa town hall, which has no competence for the matter, has expressed its misgivings about an expansion of the number of planes using the bay. At present, the use is principally confined to Canadair firefighting planes that are based in Puerto Pollensa.