Airport figures have always been a bit of mystery to me. For example, the airport authorities pump out grand figures but, and this despite having asked time and time again, we get no break down as to how many of the flights are actually bound for Palma and are not connecting flights. It is a bit like how many people are going to hospital because they know they have Covid and how many are being admitted other reasons but test positive on arrival.
Now, back to the airport, flight numbers are up but how many passengers are they really carrying?
And, according to Més per Mallorca, a sizeable number of flights flying back and forth to Majorca re the controversial “ghost flights” and the Mallorcan political party wants Brussels to take action.
Més wants the European Union to further ease rules on airport take-off and landing slots to cut the number of “ghost flights” airlines are running to retain them.
Carriers say the requirement for them to use 50% of their slots - down from 80% in pre-pandemic days - or lose them is forcing them to operate empty or half-empty flights.
A sluggish return to air travel, as travellers shrink away from the omicron variant and quickly changing rules for passengers, is dragging out the practice longer than they planned but having a fleet of empty aircraft flying into Palma is not particularly eco-friendly.