The Balearic Government is calling on the Spanish Government to order the Aena airports authority to curb the increase in flights to the islands' airports during the peak season, because tourist capacity has reached its "maximum limit".
Vice-president and government spokesperson Antoni Costa said on Friday that the powers to regulate "the main gateway to the Balearic Islands" lie with the central government. For the busiest months of the year, he urged Madrid to limit airline slots at the three airports.
"It is not advisable to increase airport capacity during the peak season," he stressed, adding that the regional government will continue to demand that it jointly manages the airports.
On Wednesday, the Partido Popular, who form the Balearic Government, said they were likely to support a motion that the opposition Més per Mallorca plan to present to the Balearic Parliament. This is for the co-management of the airports.
Parliamentary spokesperson Sebastià Sagreras explained that the PP will be studying the Més motion, adding that President Marga Prohens has always been in favour of co-management. A reason for this is in order to be able to attempt to control the number of flights.
The right and left in the Balearics have long been on the same side on this issue. But one complication is posed by the fact that, although the Spanish Government is the majority shareholder in Aena, 49% of the shares are in private hands.
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ChrisStop talking sense Chris as the powers that be aren't listening and are too busy playing their petty ego-trip games and lining their pockets as fast as they can before the next election merry-go-round and for it all to repeat again.
Need to also cap arrivals by ferry from France and mainland Spain and also reinstate the cap on cruise ship arrivals. The reality though is that a cap implies that the current level of tourism is the optimum level. Most residents will agree that the current 2025 level is uncomfortably high. Where the optimum is I don't know - 80% of current level maybe?? - surely the government need to lock in a position on what the maximum level should be and then plan the necessary steps to wind back the arrivals to meet that max level.
The Balearic government might not be able to control the number of flights coming in, but they certainly can control the number of hotel beds. So why are they granting licences for new hotels to be built? There is no reason or excuse for this!