Air Defender 23 is the largest deployment exercise of air forces in NATO's history. It started on Monday and will end on June 23. Under the command of the German Air Force, 250 aircraft from 25 countries are taking part.
Up to Friday next week, some 13,000 flights are scheduled for Palma Son Sant Joan Airport. Of these, Eurocontrol says that around 5,000 will be affected.
The exercise is in three airspaces over Germany - the Baltic Sea and part of eastern Germany; between Bavaria in the south and Rhineland-Palatinate, which borders France, Belgium and Luxembourg; Lower Saxony and the North Sea. As well as flights to and from German airports, some Scandinavian, Dutch, Austrian and Swiss flights will be affected.
Spain's ministry of transport said on Monday that everything will be coordinated with Eurocontrol. Enaire, Spain's air navigation company, does not anticipate any cancellations of or delays to flights operating in Spanish airspace. However, Palma, because of the high number of German flights, will be affected.
Hoteliers in Mallorca stress that any disruption of air traffic will have negative consequences. They say that there have been some cancellations.