This is ”bad news” said Matas as airfares increase inspite of resident´s discounts

AIR fares for flights between Balearic Islands have increased by two euros and the President of the Council of Majorca, Maria Antonia Munar, said yesterday that this increase is a “deceptive trick”. At the start of this year air fares were made cheaper for residents on the islands and this was simply a deceitful trick, Maria Antonia Munar states, if the air prices then increase. The Ministry for Public Works authorised this two euro increase.
The residents' discounts “don't mean anything” if the prices continue to increase, Maria Antonia Munar added.
The leader of the Balearic Government, Jaume Matas, thinks that this air fare increase is “bad news”.
The way that the Department managed by Magdalena Alvarez has carried out this decision was terrible, added Jaume Matas, as it should have been a “unilateral” decision, whereby all government departments are consulted. This increase in air fares for inter-island flights shows that “sometimes it does not even matter that we increased the airfare discounts if later on the air fares are going to increase”. For this reason, Jaume Matas has asked the Ministry for Public Works to modify their declaration.
However, it must be remembered that the airlines which run between the Balearic Islands are managed by a public company.
This public company must guarantee that there are always a certain number of flights running between islands throughout the year.
The Ministry for Trade has signalled that they are studying if the current conditions justify a revision of the obligations of this public service company. This could mean that airline routes are changed and that new airline routes are needed. If this happens the public company would have to adhere to European Union rules and regulations. On other matters that were discussed yesterday, the idea to create a lead figure in the Council Parliament is “a good initiative”, said Maria Antonia Munar. This idea was proposed by a group of experts who are giving their advice on how to reform the Balearic Statute of Autonomy.
Maria Antonia Munar considers that all measures which bring together the regulations from each local council are positive ones.