Arup, the London-headquartered building design, engineering and consultancy services company, will spend the next six months finalising the plan for development at Palma's Son Sant Joan Airport. Arup is a global leader in this field. Among the company's numerous projects have been the Sydney Opera House, the Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore and the City of Manchester Stadium (now the Etihad).
The airports authority Aena says that Arup will finalise the plan within six months and has already begun to identify different uses for the developable land at the airport. This land consists of plots by the current multi-storey car park, the cargo terminal and the maintenance hangars. The airports authority has stated that the expansion will have a commitment to "sustainable urban development that will catalyse regional economic activity".
Aena stresses that work at the airport will be pursued through collaboration with the public authorities and will be for strengthening all airport services. It reiterates that there will not be a hotel or any tourism use of the new facilities. The main beneficiaries are to be airlines, companies which operate at the airport and employees.
Arup is meanwhile working on other Aena projects at Barcelona-El Prat, Madrid-Barajas, Malaga, Seville and Valencia airports.