The director of Son Sant Joan Airport, Tomás Melgar, said yesterday that the airport is prepared for Brexit and its possible scenarios.
There is to be a specific hall for baggage reclaim and a “provisional” solution for customs.
All UK passengers will pass through this hall and leave through a separate exit to that for EU passengers. Until now, passengers from outside the EU have gone through a much smaller hall, referred to in airport jargon as the bubble zone.
These new arrangements will be ready for 31 January.
Melgar, who has recently taken over as airport director, also spoke yesterday about developments at Son Sant Joan. He explained that there is to be no increase in passenger capacity. “Society is not asking for this,” he noted. The maximum capacity will remain as it has since 1997 - 12,000 passengers an hour. “There is no need to increase capacity.”
On the development of so-called complementary activities at the airport, Melgar explained that this does not entail “urbanising” anything new and that the government, the Council of Majorca and Palma town hall have all been invited to work with the airport on this development. He added that he is happy to meet environmentalist groups and explain the plans in a “totally transparent” way.
With regard to passenger numbers this year, Melgar observed that there will have been a two per cent rise by the end of 2019.
The UK market, he said, is “functioning well”, while the German market is “a little slower”.