As had been planned, no flights landed at or took off from Palma Airport between 11.30am and 1pm on Saturday because of the Spanish Air Force's air show to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Son Sant Joan airbase. At 1pm normal operations resumed, the air show having gone ahead despite concerns about the weather.
Because of Saturday's forecast - yellow alerts for rain, thunderstorms and wind - cancellation had been a possibility. But while the skies were grey and there was rain, conditions were far from risky. By 1.30pm, accumulated rainfall at the airport was 10.3 litres per square metre - a fair amount of rain but hardly out of the ordinary. The strongest gust of wind was all of 18 kilometres per hour, a gentle breeze. (The alert for wind was deactivated earlier on Saturday.)
The air show drew good numbers of visitors. There were traffic jams leading to the access control point. Lieutenant Colonel Víctor Mejías said: "We weren't expecting this success; we're pleasantly surprised." Up to 9,000 people are estimated to have attended.
All the aircraft scheduled for the air show took off with the exception of a Canadair firefighting seaplane. It began with the paratrooper patrol, who unfurled flags and performed acrobatic manoeuvres, with the Spanish flag formed by smoke trails as a backdrop. Next came the F-18 Hornet fighter jet, followed by the Sikorsky 76 helicopter, which simulated a rescue.
The rain did mean that the exhibition had to be moved indoors. Visitors were able to see up close and enter aircraft such as the state-of-the-art MH-90 helicopter.