The season has got off to a rather complicated start at Palma airport. Apart from the dispute over the lack of police at passport control sparking long queues from arrivals from the United Kingdom, now the annual war between taxi drivers and so-called pirate transport operators has blown up again.
This morning, minibus companies that operate in the arrivals area of Son Sant Joan airport stopped operating between 09.00 and 13.00 hours, in protest because they are not being allowed to collect customers due to pressure from taxi drivers.
The number of companies that have carried out the strike, some 27, total a fleet of one hundred minibuses, whose average capacity is between 15 and 20 passengers.
The companies that have carried out the strike claim that with the current transport law of 2017 "we are forced to have our services pre-contracted at source, in order to satisfy the taxi drivers' collective".
During the strike, the taxi service was brought to a near halt by the huge queues that built up, as well as the EMT and Aerotib services bus services.
"People don't understand what is happening, but we have to show our opposition to a regulation that prevents us from working and benefits the rest of ground transport. All we want is to be allowed to work and that customers have a free choice to opt for one type of transport or another," said the owners of the minibus companies.
AENA-Palma, aware of the problem, has called the Palma Local Police to check if any irregularity was being committed.