Palma Airport. recent photo. | Laura Becerra

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Palma airport will register less than 6 million passengers this year, which is a massive drop from 29.7 million in 2019, because of the impact of the pandemic on the Tourism Industry and the Airline Sector, according to Spanish and foreign airlines.

Between January and September, Son Sant Joan registered 5.2 million passengers, mostly because the Spanish Government and the EU reopened European Union borders to International tourists and travellers in June.

AENA will have the worst economic balance in its history at Palma Airport, where annual profits to date have exceeded 150 million euros.

Commercial revenues have fallen by more than 90% since March, because restaurants and shops were closed for about four months and Module D has been closed to traffic since the coronavirus State of Emergency was declared on March 15.

Aircraft and passenger traffic was non-existent during the peak summer months, mainly because of the mandatory quarantine regulations introduced on July 25 by the UK and the German Government’s recommendation on August 15, not to travel to Spanish holiday destinations, including the Balearic Islands.

The decline in passengers has had a huge impact on hotels, discretionary transport, complementary supplies, nightlife, traders and catering.

Mallorca has never experienced a situation like this before, where the entire economy is affected and there’s no short-term recovery in sight.

Slots

The European Commission exempted airlines from having to cover a minimum number of allocated flight slots in order to keep them the following year and that measure has been extended until March 27, 2021 to alleviate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.