For UK travellers, the lack of direct winter flights to the Balearics has been a problem for years, and the regional authorities are also concerned. Winter flights to the Balearics, or rather the lack of direct links, present an ongoing problem for the UK and other northern European countries such as Norway and Sweden. All the airlines have announced significant increases in the number of seats for this summer, but during the winter months direct flights to Majorca, for example, are few and far between. Scotland, for instance, has no direct winter flights to Palma, while the north of England is sparsely served, as are parts of Scandinavia. This does little to help encourage winter tourism.
Yesterday, the parliamentary tourism commission approved a motion to lobby the Balearic government on taking measures to improve flight connections, especially between Palma and major European cities. One of the catalysts to the problem getting worse was the demise of airlines last year: Monarch, Air Berlin and Niki. Huge gaps have been left in the market during the low season and a number of summer services have also been grounded. Some UK airlines have been quick to grab the summer slots left by Monarch, but there are concerns that a number of services left abandoned by Niki have not been snapped up.