The CAEB Confederation of Balearic Business Associations has attacked Palma Airport's "deplorable image", one to which "thousands of passengers" are exposed on a daily basis.
For the confederation, the collapse of part of a roof in arrivals on Tuesday was the final straw, president Carmen Planas denouncing the lack of planning and control of work at the airport, "which is endangering workers and passengers".
"It is intolerable that this situation is occurring at the busiest time of year at Son Sant Joan Airport, the gateway to a top-level tourist destination like ours." The CAEB is to request an "urgent meeting" with AENA airports authority management "to demand responsibility and safety for construction work".
The Partido Popular have meanwhile demanded that the secretary of state for transport and sustainable mobility, José Antonio Santano, appears in Congress to immediately explain the "deplorable" state of Son Sant Joan Airport.
PP Congressman José Vicente Marí, who represents the Balearics, says "the terminal has become a battlefield, unsafe and constantly undergoing construction work". "It is a scandalous disgrace for a first-class airport like Mallorca's."
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Nigel MaudeApologies if I have got the wrong label for the Terminal - it's the one for arrivals/departures from/to UK.
It really varies a lot. Last month, it took Mrs Le Martian two hours from landing to getting out the airport. Last week family members did it in twenty minutes. Sometimes the Egates are on, sometimes not. Manual control has one and sometimes two to check and stamp the Brit passports. Then there’s the hike to the exit. It’s not the greatest welcome.
LovedSollerI think either you have shares in AENA, or your frequency of use is very limited, because you mention Terminal A, which is closed every winter. I use the airport 10 times a year, have done for the last 30 years. There was nothing wrong with Terminal A, now it is desert. Both in and out, apart from having to be diverted from Terminal C to D to try and exit the airport, I too have no problem with the E gates, however I only have a small bakpak. But on my last flight back, 2 weeks ago, I gather from the passenger next to me, the baggage check-in was a disaster, and the E gates had had a computer failure and it took them nearly 2 hours from entering the airport to getting to the gate, and only just made it. Everything is as you find it, you obviously been lucky, but CAEB and PP are correct and they do not use the airport!
I’ve been using PMI for years, and Terminal A, which is admittedly the bucket & spade terminal, had got rather tired. However, on the past two occasions, the arrivals experience has been nothing short of excellent. I doubt it took for than 10 minutes to transit from the ‘plane door to the outside of the terminal. Dozens of e-gates, seemingly all working, 5 seconds to get a stamp and the whole place was very presentable given the extent of works. It’s always no-win for any company trying to respond to criticisms of shabby and overloaded infrastructure - the works to put it right, while the airport handles pretty much as many flights as LGW, result in some disruption and occasional inconvenience and then the criticisms of ‘deplorable’ image get trawled up. And ‘deplorable’ - really? ‘Dangerous’ - really? Anyway if it really is that bad, the good news is that it will deter tourists!
Absolutely correct, since last year the airport has been a bad joke. Continuous construction and blanked off areas, bad signage, misleading directions. Hope CAEB & PP get a reaction, but I doubt it, it's the system