Civilian seaplanes can land in Pollensa Bay

Firefighting planes use Pollensa Bay. | Gabriel Alomar

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPollensa17/09/2019 07:39

Spain's Air Safety Agency has given permission for civilian seaplanes to land in Pollensa Bay. The president of the Majorca Aeronautical Foundation, Miquel Buades, says that a report received from the agency on Monday states that a maximum of fifty seaplanes per annum will be able to land. Agreement has also been obtained from the air force base.

For Buades, this was "great news". With the permission, Majorca will be pioneering in having the first port in Spain where civilian seaplanes can land. The foundation has proposed that Puerto Pollensa be a centre for pilot training, so this can now happen. At present, this training is not available in Spain; pilots have to go to France or Italy instead.

Landing, Buades explains, will be in the Punta Avançada area, away from where there are people. Once a seaplane is on the water, he adds, it is considered to be a boat, meaning that it can dock without problem.

The report stresses that seaplanes are not for commercial flights. There had been a proposal for a seaplane service to link Pollensa with Formentera.

Seaplane use in Pollensa Bay is currently confined to firefighting planes and to the Splash-In event, for which special permission has been required.