On Friday, representatives of the platform against the expansion of Palma Airport spoke to the media and argued that "excessive tourism" this summer has exposed "the limits, the risks and the vulnerability of the hyper-tourism economic model of the islands".
They were speaking outside the offices of the Spanish government delegation in the Balearics. The government, via the airports authority Aena, in which it has a 51% shareholding, is ultimately responsible for the airport.
Spokespeople for the platform, the environmentalists GOB and the Fridays for Future movement in the Balearics warned of "climate collapse" because of numbers of tourists and called for a new master plan for the airport that is "appropriate for the ecological crisis and the declarations of climate emergency by both the Balearic and the Spanish governments".
Margalida Roselló, on behalf of the platform, demanded that the national ministry of transport limits flights at Son Sant Joan. "We are in a climate emergency and we cannot keep looking the other way, as this impoverishes us; it doesn't make us richer." She also called, as have certain political parties, for there to be co-management of the airport to involve the Balearic government.
GOB spokesperson, Margalida Ramis, added that a protest is planned for September 27, World Tourism Day, to highlight political inaction and overcrowding on the islands.