Jet2.com expects to grow its Spanish market this year by 53% by offering 6.8 million seats, operating 111 routes and having 552 flights per week. Very favourable forecasts are enabling the airline to continue the growth it has been registering in recent months and to treat Spain as its main market. Over the year April 2016 to March 2017, overall growth will have been 24%.
Palma, Alicante and Tenerife are the three airports with the greatest activity throughout the year, and there will be significant growth this winter (November to March 2018). The airline will be increasing the number of seats on UK-Spain routes by 71%.
As for Majorca specifically, growth from April last year to March this year will have been 18%, while from April to March 2018 there will be a 44% increase in the number of seats, bringing the total to over 980,000. This will be because of the nine routes between Palma and Jet2.com bases in the UK - Belfast, Birmingham, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Stansted - that will create a peak of 107 flights per week. This will be the highest number that the airline has offered in Spain - up from a 2016 high season figure of 87.
From November this year to March 2018 there will be a doubling of the number of seats on flights between the UK and Palma.
The tour operator division, Jet2holidays, is also growing and now has 1,390 hotels in Spain and the islands under direct contract. In Majorca alone, the number is 304.
Steve Heapy, CEO of both Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, says that the growth demonstrates commitment to Majorca not only as a summer destination but also a valid option for the winter. "We have increased the number of flights, places and hotels for all the seasons as proof that we strongly believe in the island."
Pedro Homar, fhe director of the Palma365 tourism foundation, believes that the Jet2 growth is "great news" for Palma. "Without doubt, improving and increasing air connectivity in the mid and low seasons is one of the main strategies that we are working on at the foundation. Our goal is to position Palma as a city-break destination 365 days a year, and news like this helps us to fulfil it.