Figures from AECFA, the coordinating body for airport scheduling, point to an 8.5% decrease in airline seats for Palma flights from November to March. The number of flights is scheduled to fall by 11.5% over these five months.
This drop is the largest for fifteen years, and it doesn't take into account any impact because of Thomas Cook, as this is information for the situation as it was in mid-September. For October, 25,000 UK passengers had been booked on Thomas Cook flights to and from Son Sant Joan Airport.
A reason for the lower flight availability is an increase in competition from other destinations. The decrease and loss of some air connectivity were therefore topics for discussion at Wednesday's meeting of the airport's routes committee. This considered measures to address the loss of Thomas Cook flights and the importance of Condor flights continuing. Twenty-five per cent of German tourists take Condor flights.
The 2020-2021 air connectivity plan envisages there being 31 new airport links in sixteen countries on three continents. Transport minister Marc Pons said that the aim is to boost the number of flights during the low and medium seasons and to improve medium and long-distance connectivity. On the list of new airport links are ones with Doha, Istanbul, Marrakesh, New York and Tel Aviv.