From now until the middle of September, there will be an average of around 800 flights at Palma airport, a level of activity that is set to shatter previous air traffic records.
The airport's management had pointed out at the start of the summer that it expected traffic to increase and to be at a fairly consistent daily level during the peak season. Tour operator and airline needs were driving up demand for slots, and these have been increasing ever since Easter.
The overall volume of traffic - flights and passengers - is set to well exceed last summer's record numbers. Yesterday, there were almost 1,100 flights and more than 180,000 passengers, the highest number ever for one day. Today, the airport will be handling 986 flights and getting on for 165,000 passengers.
The figures seem bound to once more spark off debate about the airport's capacity, in particular air-traffic control. Over weekends last summer, controllers were saying that flight operations were at a risky level and exceeding the number per hour that Aena has established. The number of passengers also means strain on the airport's facilities, though the problems with passport control for UK passengers seem to have lessened since additional police were deployed.
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The other 2 records broken were that for length of queue at a passport control desk and that for length of time standing in a queue at a passport control desk!!!!!!
Further to Nicholas Elliott's experience, we had exactly the same aborted landing above the runway on our Ryanair flight from Brussels. We climbed sharply, looped and landed again safely.
This is definitely a concerning issue. My family and I were arriving in Palma last night, flying from Cologne in Germany and our Eurowings pilot had to take swift action to avoid a collision with another plane on the runway during our decent. We had to climb swiftly and then circle the airport for around 10 mins before being able to land safely.
When Billions of Pesetas were spent building Palma Airport. How I wish they had put Showers along the Corridors.