Passengers at Palma Son Sant Joan Airport, Mallorca

Airport activity not quite back at pre-Covid levels, but not far off. | MDB

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma17/07/2021 20:12
W1

On Saturday, Palma Son Sant Joan Airport had 194 national flights and 728 international. These didn't match those of the same Saturday two years ago - 210 and 861 - but they indicated the degree to which activity at the airport has returned to normality.

However, the positive numbers at the airport can't disguise the concerns of business sectors which are facing a summer characterised by the same uncertainties of last year. And these uncertainties include a possible abrupt end to the season, as more or less happened in mid-August 2020.

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The president of the AEVAB rent a car association, Ramon Reus, hopes that the current "adverse" situation doesn't get worse. There has been a lack of "sanity" on behalf of some in contributing to the incidence rate. Botellón, illegal parties, the student trips; they could prove to be "very costly".

Rafael Roig, president of the FEBT transport operators federation, is especially pessimistic. Turnover for coach operators is 70% below what it was in 2019, and this has been influenced by a preference for hire cars as well as by the absence of cruise ships and the fall in demand for excursions.

The president of the Pimem small to medium-sized businesses federation, Jordi Mora, adds that, right now and because of the health situation, tour operators are switching their offers to competitor destinations, especially Greece. He believes that recovering the season will prove to be difficult even if there is a lowering of the Covid incidence.