Airlines report decline in passenger loads

The weekend may have been a busy one for Palma airport, but yesterday, just a week after the coach strike came to an end, airlines complained that flights to Palma are arriving and departing with empty seats. “This has not happened for years,” the director of the Association of Spanish Airlines and chairman of Air Europa Express, Mario Hidalgo said. All of Spain's Palma based airlines have noticed a drop in passengers and bookings to the Balearics in the United Kingdom has reportedly fallen off by 40 per cent. “The bulk of the flights handled by Palma airport yesterday (Sunday) were carrying passenger loads much lower than the norm for this time of year,” Hidalgo said. But the reason for the sudden drop in passengers, according to Hidalgo could be one of many. “We don't know if the fall of business is because of last week's coach strike or because of the tourist tax and the negative reports in the national and European media,” he said. The Association of Spanish Airlines is currently assessing the full impact of the three-day coach strike. But Hidalgo admitted that it is not proving easy “we had to cancel and divert flights during the strike, a factor which has a very negative affect on the airline industry.”