No expansion of Palma Airport in Mallorca for five years

Investment of 312 million euros at the airport. | Archive

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma30/09/2021 13:01

The Spanish government has presented the revised document for airport regulation, known as DORA, and this does not envisage an expansion of Palma Son Sant Joan Airport between 2022 and 2026. Investment to be carried out at the airport, worth 90 million euros, will be of "a strategic nature to remodel all the terminal area". The Aena airports authority has been insisting all along that its plans are for remodelling.

The document forecasts that it will take until 2026 for there to be full recovery of the 29.7 million passengers who passed through Son Sant Joan in 2019 - a record number. In 2022, 18.8 million passengers are forecast. The airport's capacity will not be increased, as it is set, according to the document, at 34 million passengers, a maximum figure to take account of existing infrastructure. At the other two airports in the Balearics, the capacities are ten million passengers in Ibiza and four million in Minorca.

Total investment over the five-year period for Balearic airports will be 361.4 million euros - Son Sant Joan 312.5 million, Minorca 12.3 million, Ibiza 35.8 million. There are also 615,000 euros for the Son Bonet aerodrome.

The remodelling planned for Son Sant Joan will need to be completed by 2027. Apart from the 90 million euros for this, investment includes 68 million to improve the safety of people and facilities as well as 24 million for operational safety; 12.6 million for environmental sustainability; and 48 million for replacement. Other projects will be for the electrical system, process improvement, and information and communication systems.