Change the aircraft

Ref. your request for views on an expanded Palma airport, if the idea of a larger airport is to bring more visitors to the Island, then with the new aircraft Airbus 380, with a seating capacity of twice other aircraft, by just changing the type of aircraft used, the same objective will be achieved. If considering benefits to the Island and those who live here, the last opinion that should be valued is that of those in the tourism business, their main concern by far, is profits and if more people can mean more plane seats filled, hotel beds occupied, etc then “the more the merrier”. Already we see the policy of “more people means more money” result in the essential services of the Island being stretched to breaking point and beyond. In winter we tend to forget the water and electricity shortages, eighty thousand tons of rubbish piling up through the summer, unable to be disposed of, and roads totally inadequate for the volume of traffic. Let us not forget the extra buildings required to accommodate all those “extra bodies”, and what will be acheived in that Majorca will gain the reputation of being “cheap” and everything that goes with that word, apart from prices of holidays. No, Palma does not need a bigger airport, what is required here is more quality and less quantity.
Yours sincerely, Graham Phillips