Palma de Mallorca

[DTVAirport]

Hi all,

Noticed that there was a thread about a foreign airport so decided to commence a similar one myself.

I love Palma de Mallorca airport, it's the best in Spain IMO, (apart from when you approach IBZ and think you're about to land on the water!) anyway, does anyone know of anything interesting happening, news, new routes etc?

[peakp]

Majorca Daily Bulletin Tuesday 28 March.
Palma Airport this summer expects movements to rise by 12%. This will be an extra 15,153 compared with summer 2005. Total movements expected is
141,307

[JKKne]

(Apologies if this is deemed in the incorrect area)

Palma Airport has been closed on the order of Spanish Police following a fatal ETA bomb attack in Palma Nova

Incoming flights are being diverted and no flights are being allowed to depart

BBC NEWS | Europe | Majorca sealed off after bombing (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8176601.stm)

[MUFC_fan]

This will cause chaos.

BLK is giving a delayed departure of 1 hour and fifty minutes on it's Jet2 flight - surely it will be longer than that?!

The Spanish aren't exactly the quickest are they...

[JKKne]

Easyjet spokesman reckons it'll be later this evening when it reopens and it has 8 aircraft scheduled into and out of PMI this evening

Horrible airport to be stuck in, at least there's plenty of seats!

If I were travellling scheduled, I'd bank on cancellations and if I was on a package, extra night on hols me thinks!

[raffele]

The Police have said that no planes or boats are to arrive or depart until further notice to try and contain those involved. I doubt there will be any flights leaving Majorca this evening...

[JKKne]

From what I can deipher of TVE's broadcasts it looks like AENA said they don't expect anything in or out until around 22.00 tonight

Ouch

[Founder]

I'm flying down there tomorrow morning to drop off and pick up pax... lets most of the the late planes are gone by then =P

[JKKne]

Palma is now open!

Should see all disruption cleared by tonight

[Capvermell]

Well this is posted quite a long time after the event but I was on the island that day and we were picking up a passenger on the incoming 3.15pm Ryanair flight from Stansted.

When we arrived at the airport around 3.20pm there was a massive stationary queue at the roundabout on the airport spur coming from the Playa de Palma direction on the Autopista/motorway but we were able to avoid this by cutting through the cargo area off another exit from the roundabout where the main traffic flow to the terminals was totally jammed up (we followed local taxi drivers who were heading the same way in our hire car).

So we avoided the delay suffered by most other passengers arriving by car at that time and were in the terminal by about 3.35pm but then had to wait till about 4.45pm for the passenger we were meeting to appear as they had been forced to have their luggage manually unloaded on to the tarmac and inspected by Police before they were allowed in to the terminal.

I was able to view all the incoming flight boards during our hour long wait and based on that I would say that flights were either not diverted inbound at all or only diverted for a maximum of 30 minutes and most outgoing flights were probably delayed at least 2 to 3 hours due to the extensive searching of all vehicles and their luggage on the main terminal approach roads.

But the idea that the airport was closed for many hours to all flights is a complete and utter myth that was generated by the media purely for sensationalism. 95% of all non Spanish tourist traffic arrives on the island by air and it would be totally impractical and unreasonable to close the airport itself for a prolonged period in any situation short of a direct terrorist attack on the airport or perhaps the assassination of the King or say the Prime Minister (either of Spain or the Balearic government) somewhere else on the island. Obviously the real world likelihood that the terrorists would be trying to board a flight immediately after the bombing was virtually negligible but the local Police inevitably had to make the predictable token show of force.

The airport was definitely closed to inbound flights for well under an hour and the outbound delays were all caused by the extra security searching imposed by the Police that delayed most passengers entering the terminal from just after 2pm onwards by at last an hour to two hours.

[adfly]

So I guess its pretty much the same as what happened in August, Useful Advice NEVER STAY IN PALMA NOVA!!!

[Capvermell]

No the bomb that killed the two Police officers in Palma Nova was actually on 30th July. There were two more smaller bombs that went off in Palma (the capital of Mallorca) on August 9th but fortunately nobody was killed or injured in those.

Palma Nova is not that bad a place. Its the neighbouring Magalluf which is almost entirely patronised by young people under 30 looking to get very drunk and stay up all night.

[jubilee]

ADFLY,

Does your advice about not staying in Palma Nova because they had a bomb blast,
apply to all the other cities around the world where the same happened!
Perhaps thats why I go to Santa Ponsa (Ponca).

[Capvermell]

I presume that adfly would recommend never ever visting London or New York or Washington DC, etc, etc too on the basis of a terrorist outrage having occurred there.

The only reason ETA seem to have targeted Palma Nova on this occasion is because despite sticking to their usual target (the Guardia Civil) they clearly realised that by striking in a British tourist resort they would also attract international press interest.

[jubilee]

I am not 100% sure, but I think the G.C. have an office in Palma Nova, not sure how close it was to the incident.

[Ballymoss]

I think you'll find it was on the roadside just outside their Palma Nova Offices:uhoh:

[HeathrowAirport]

I flew into PMI recently and noticed how crazy the airport is in the Summer months, I've noted they handle exceptionally 1000 movements per day and almost as much as Heathrow on the Saturday.

Any plans to expand the terminals and add additional runway capacity in the future?

[Seljuk22]

Due to the difficult situation in Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia this year (not only) PMI will set a new record as there might be 26.5 million passengers in total.

[Hotel Tango]

Just accept that Spanish aircraft will get priority

just like I've read foreign crews stating that BA get priority at LHR. All utter BS!

[Flying Wild]

I offer firsthand experience to discount your disbelief.
Last week we were cleared to line up on 24R when suddenly clearance was cancelled to allow a Spanish turboprop to take off from the intersection. This was despite us being on a slot. Said aircraft then delayed us for at least 3-4 mins as it was departing along the same track.
If that's not giving priority, I don't know what is!

[Hotel Tango]

I certainly believe that is what you saw. Unfortunately, as is so often the case in ATC v the FD is that the FD hasn't got a clue about what goes on behind the scenes in ATC which may influence these apparent illogical (to the FD) decisions. As I said, I have in these very forums read complaints from foreign crews about favouritism to BA at LHR. There is no way an UK ATCO would even go there. There are multiple reasons for plans to be changed at short notice, most of which will never be apparent to you on the FD. With such a busy airport as PMI it can happen there just as it can happen at LHR.

[Hotel Tango]

Next you will be telling me that it is BS that Spanish ATC talk to Spanish aircraft in Spanish.

Irrelevant statement! And just in case you don't know, Spanish is an official ICAO language.

[Gpovanman]

There are to the best of my knowledge, no plans to increase the terminals here in PMI, even considering the big jump in flights this year. What has been a very big change from previous years is the number of flights on remote stands due no only to the great increase in flights this year compared to last, but their timings. What has to be remembered is that PMI is very "peaky". Other than a few national flights going out 0600-0630, nothing really happens till about 0700 when the first German wave arrives. When the Germans are departing around 0945, the first big wave of UK flights starts to arrive, these leaving around 1230. After that, it is pretty quiet till 1300-1400, when the Air Berlin hub flights come in. This is not as big a deal as it was, with AB running far fewer flights on this basis than in previous years. Once they have gone, the airport just ticks over until about 1900 when the evening traffic starts. This carries on till about 2300, and the tails off. What UK crews see in the morning does not carry through the whole day, and come winter time, other than a bit of German traffic, the place is all but dead to international flights.

[Una Due Tfc]

If they weren't crossing an international border (e.g. flying PMI-MAD) then it's perfectly legal for all comms to be in the local language.

[Hotel Tango]

Whilst I appreciate that you are an experct on UK ATC

Actually no, worked 2.5 years in the UK and 43 years in Europe with multiple European nationalities.

[HeathrowAirport]

Majorca had an almost 11% increase in passenger statistics last year. 197,639 movements taking it back to 2007 levels.

Anyone reckon it'll be busier yet again this year?

[Hotel Tango]

It may well be, just as no doubt other Spanish airports will be too. With Turkey, Greece, and several North African countries no longer in favour with the tourists, Spain has experienced a notable increase in tourist traffic (as reflected by their prices too)!

[inOban]

I think you may need to take Greece off that list. I believe bookings there are up.

[Hotel Tango]

True, they are up, but nowhere near previous levels.....yet.

[Seljuk22]

EZY opened a base with 3 based aircraft, Germania based one aircraft and today Eurowings opened their base with 4 aircrafts and they want to increase the number to 6 next year.

In the below article you can find the current market shares at PMI
http://www.airliners.de/eurowings-mallorca-basis/41486 (http://www.airliners.de/germania-mallorca-basis/41449)

[Capvermell]

I don't think any of them will be flying to London Heathrow or have Club Class available like British Airways do though.

Total direct flight movements from LHR to PMI by BA now exceed one daily (two a day on Saturday and Sunday) although at the expense of the Cannibalisation of the three Iberia Express flights that were still operating from LHR last year (2016) and the 7 IB Express LHR to PMI slots the year before (2015).

Unfortunately BA cash fares are usually very expensive on this route compared to IB Express but Avios redemption seats in Club are quite plentiful in the Low and Shoulder summer season period in May, June, September and October.

[HeathrowAirport]

Record PAX and aircraft movements last year, I wonder when it'll hit capacity? Almost 28,000,000 pax through 208,787 movements.

[29Alpha]

28 million pax to pmi, am i reading this right?

[Mister Geezer]

Yep - you certainly are! :-)

I seem to read that the airport is working towards its next capacity target of 35 million. To give credit where it is due, AENA has put money to good use over the past 18 months or so, in making the terminal better and especially for the non schengen flights which use the former Terminal A, as the previous tiled floor there that was ripped up just a few months ago, dated back decades to when Caravelles and 727s were on the apron.

[29Alpha]

Never knew it was such a big concern lol, ah well

[Mister Geezer]

Some of us use the airport more than others. ;)

What I was trying to highlight is how some parts of the terminal have endured with little investment for a long time.

[HeathrowAirport]

They'll have to expand for sure. The current terminal/parking arrangements can't surely handle 35 million pax. A lot of the aircraft can end up on the remote stands.

[HeathrowAirport]

Flew in yesterday, first time in 2 years. The tiled floor looks much nicer and brighter. But its chipping so easy. It's a shame really.

What's the plans for the airport? They hotels charge €30EUR city tax for a week. Surely not all of it is going elsewhere.

[jubilee]

Heathrow A/p.

Hotel tax in Mallorca varies according to the star rating. Also after so many days it reduces, not sure if its 7 or 10 days.

[HeathrowAirport]

Oh lordy! Saw this on twitter....


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/960x598/img_20210528_wa0003_4615ea3b075c6f0d085e3e6ce004ac6423afb4f3 .jpg

[Dannyboy39]

Just another day in summer in Spain then.

[gopaisleygo]

Why would you?

[HeathrowAirport]

Hehe! Bog standards day from what I remember a few years back.

[HeathrowAirport]

Bad day at the office in the Baleares. METAR LEPA 271830Z 35033G53KT 4000 +SHRA VCTS FEW012 FEW025CB SCT028 19/14 Q1009 TEMPO 2000 TSRA=