TW
3

Empty Flights

Dear Sir,
My life, for which I am thankful, pinballs between the UK and Palma.

So I think my first-hand insight into the rumpus over whether Majorca needs more planes of tourists (Page 2, MDB January 3) carries a bit of gravitas. Environmentally, perhaps not. But what it does need, without any shadow of any doubt, is full capacity flights.

Boarding planes that are half-full - at best - does nothing for our carbon footprint.

Nor do they fill the tourism trade, and all the jobs and lives and mortgages that depend on it, with any optimism.

And these ghost planes will do the island no good at all when the carriers look at where their investment gets best returns. (Malta, Turkey, Greece, Egypt are the new boys in town.)

As they are doing now, as I write. You just need to compare Skyscanner last year, to this year, to weep into your San Miguel or Larios if you are a Majorca business owner or frequent traveller.

Richard Chew
Yorkshire and Calvia