Britons facing holiday strife travelling to Mallorca

Apart from the planned strikes by air-traffic controllers in France and security personnel at German airports which are adding to Mallorca tourism industry concerns, there are other potential problems as well which will also hit the summer.

France is installing a new air traffic control system and this is going to mean that many flights may have to use German airspace until the new French system is up and running and that could lead to flight delays.

Furthermore, concerns have already been raised about long queues at passport control at Palma airport as a result of Brexit.

All non-Spanish residents will have to have their passport stamped on entry and departure and opposition political parties are calling on the government to increase the number of immigration officers at key airports like Palma to prevent massive queues this summer.

And, despite warnings from UK travel industry bosses last year, Border Force UK staff at key airports, such as Manchester and Dublin, are short-staffed and they are having problems recruiting and training new employees.

Travel agents have said that queues will only get worse if additional staff are not hired before the Easter holidays.
Manchester airport said staff recruitment was underway but problems had been exacerbated by staff illness.

In Palma opposition political parties are calling for extra immigration police to be deployed at all airports to ease the pressure and reduce queues.