With a bit of luck Air Europa will relaunch LGW to PMI, as they operated a couple of years ago
Air Europa from LGW to PMI was a very nice service indeed, especially on the then newish 737-800s, particularly in comparison to the horrid Easyjet scrum (also because many more of the passengers were Spanish inhabitants on the islands than on any other normal British operator run PMI flight). As a tall passenger (1.90m) I would rather travel charter from Gatwick in terms of the professionalism of the crew compared to EZY and also because as you get an allocated seat I can often talk my way in to frequently unsold extra legroom seats. On the other hand one's fellow passenger on charter airlines usually leave even more to be desired than on EZY. GB Airways flights under BA colours from LGW to PMI were also very nice and often sold cheaply last minute when the plane was underbooked as GB operated a charter flight seat pricing model (where prices on underbooked flights fall sharply in the last few days before travel) rather than the BA model that assumes late bookers are all businessmen who can pay top dollar.
Flew EasyJet PMI to LGW last Sunday, and it left a lot to be desired.
I hate Easyjet with a passion, in particular because on any airline where you have an allocated seat I always board the plane last and avoid the horrid scrum when the flight is called. But on Easyjet that is not possible if you don't wish to be stuck in the back of the plane in the middle seat with no leg room. Having said that since they have gone up to four flights a day from LGW to PMI they have stopped putting prices through the roof in the last few days before the flight, which is inevitably when I always book. However at £85 all in for the cheapest seats on BD in October versus about £65 on EZY I would personally cheerfully pay another £20 to travel from a more convenient airport and avoid travelling with the EZY grockles.
Coming back to Air Europa the obvious opportunity here is for them to start running a PMI to LHR service now that they would face no competitors on the route and especially bearing in mind that PMI is the airline's main operating base. Failing that Air Berlin, who also have a hub at Palma, might also see an opportunity to run a service from PMI to LHR. I will email the CEO of Air Europa and make the suggestion.