The United Airlines service between Newark Liberty International Airport and Palma will restart on May 26 and continue until September 27. The schedule will therefore be slightly longer than in 2022, the inaugural year for the route, when flights started in the first week of June and ended in mid-September.
There will be three flights per week rather than the two last year. Departures from Palma will be on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (at 11am); from Newark on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
For the director of the Palma 365 Tourism Foundation, Pedro Homar, the increase in frequencies is evidence of the success of a service that was used by almost 10,000 travellers from the US in 2022. Homar says that the service has had a significant impact in economic terms, suggesting that these travellers spend an average of some 1,000 euros per day.
"American tourists don't come for the sun and the beach - for that they have the the Caribbean, which is much closer. They are interested in the gastronomy, the history, the culture, the traditions... ." The flight to Palma, he adds, "puts the island on the map, with a potential market of 350 million people."
Assessment of the service, where the Balearic tourism ministry is concerned, is positive. "This is an emerging and high-quality market, and the flights make it possible to attract tourists with high purchasing power who benefit the entire tourism value chain." The ministry, the Council of Mallorca and Palma 365 are all seeking to establish routes from the US that are not just for the summer months.