Tourists Arriving at Palma Airport. | Jaume Morey

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Now that European source markets are opening up again it’s getting very busy at Son Sant Joan Airport in Palma with 80% of 2019’s air traffic recovered since the middle of July.

AENA data shows that German and UK flight schedules have already reached 70% and hotel occupancy has increased in most of the island's tourist areas.

Between Friday tand Sunday, 1,746 European flights will take off or land in Palma, which is 70% of the total 2,498 flights.

Jet2, EasyJet, TUI Airlines, British Airways and Ryanair have exceeded all activity forecasts and occupancy levels on flights have been progressively increasing in the last week, especially now that London has confirmed that there will be no change to its ‘Amber’ list for the next three weeks.

The main German companies TUI Fly, Lufthansa, Condor and Eurowings have reported increased capacity since Berlin changed the minimum age for health restrictions from 6 to 12.

“Air traffic will remain about the same for the next two weeks, but the end of some of the school holidays in Germany on August 20 marks a downward turning point," according to AENA.

The increase in airport activity has motivated AENA and the Ministry of Health to step up health and customs controls, particularly with flights from the UK.

International traffic is also growing due to flights from Austria, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Italy and Nordic countries. Domestic flights are already at the same level as they were in 2019.

Imserso

Despite the good forecasts, the Balearic Transport Federation, or FEBT says hotel owners and transport companies are concerned about Imserso vacation programme delays.

The problem is, the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Appeals, or TARC, has upheld a request by Hotel Management of Benidorm and the Costa Blanca, or Hosbec, to suspend the terms and conditions of the Imserso programme, which was scheduled to begin in October.