Palma de Mallorca, 07th Jul 06

2006 BUMPER YEAR FOR LOW COST AIRLINES INTO PALMA DE MALLORCA

Tourism forecasts 2006 as a bumper year for Mallorca and it also promises to be Palma’s International Airport’s best year ever for daily scheduled flight connections from the UK.

Palma is known as one of Europe’s busiest airports in summer and on certain days in the peak months of July and August the airport handles more aircraft movements than London’s Heathrow.

Easyjet, one of the first low cost carriers to fly the route 10 years ago, is aiming to bring a million passengers into Palma this season and other carriers are committed to the destination by increasing schedules and UK destinations into this ever popular Mediterranean island.

Easyjet: www.easyjet.com has launched six new routes into Palma since it started flying the route in 1995. This year it has announced a new connection from Glasgow and will fly 15 daily flights direct from the UK into Palma. Easyjet now accounts for approximately 73% of all scheduled traffic into the island from the UK.

Monarch Airlines has launched two new services from Birmingham and London Luton into Palma. In addition, it has increased frequency to two flights daily from Manchester where the airline has seen a phenomenal demand over the past three years. In total Monarch Airlines will be offering 145,000 seats from the UK into Palma this summer. www.flymonarch.com

Air Berlin www.airberlin.com has announced an increase in its schedule flights from London Stansted Airport direct to Palma where the airline’s hub operation provides onward flights to the Spanish Mainland or various destinations in Germany.

The airline has just been voted as the best European low cost airline worldwide according to a survey organised by UK based Skytrax. Over 13 million passengers in 94 countries participated in the survey, which covered a range of questions from service through to how user friendly airline websites are.

Jet 2 www.jet2.com has started flying daily to Palma from Manchester this summer and launched a new service from Blackpool (4 times a week) and continues its Leeds Bradford service flying twice daily into Palma.

Bmibaby www.bmibaby.com flies daily into Palma from London Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Durham, Manchester and Nottingham.

Thomsonfly www.thomsonfly.com has expanded into Palma this year from 3 routes last year (Coventry, Doncaster-Sheffield and Bournemouth) to 11 airports (Birmingham, Cardiff, Nottingham East Midlands, Glasgow, London Gatwick, London Luton, Manchester and Newcastle) around the country this summer.

The airline now offers a choice of 82 flights into Palma per week. Thomsonfly is confident that by offering more frequencies and destinations it will increase the number of passengers travelling between the UK and Palma.

GB Airways www.ba.com, a division of British Airways, is operating a daily scheduled service into London Gatwick this summer and to meet demand has increased its schedule to offer two flights daily and three flights on Fridays each week.

Flybe www.flybe.com is now featuring the Palma route from three destinations: Birmingham, Exeter and Southampton which is new for this summer.

NEW PRIVATE JET SERVICE

In 2004 Palma International Airport expanded its private jet area and made helicopter landing facilities available. This investment is starting to pay off as the demand for this type of air transportation increases.

Now, Club 328 the UK/German based executive jet company, is opening a new office on Mallorca from this month and will start operating a service from September with a Raytheon Beechcraft Premier 1 Jet from Palma’s Son Sant Joan Airport.

From Palma, the Premier 1, with capacity for up to six passengers, is ideal for charters to the South of France; Tuscany, Umbria, Switzerland and into Northern Africa.

The company will be working in conjunction with the Stein Group of Hotels which operates two hotels on Mallorca: Gran Hotel Son Net and the Son Julia.

Further information (UK): Tel: + 44 1962 736600
(Palma): Tel: + 34 971 875 395 www.club328.com

For further information, please contact:
Mallorca Tourist Board, Dominique Carroll / Anna Skidmore,
Tel:(+34) 971 725 396 Fax: (+34) 971 713 540
E-Mail: info@fomentmallorca.org

Further Press Releases:

FIVE NEW HOTEL OPENINGS IN MALLORCA SPRING – SUMMER 2013 (31st May 13)

GOOD NEWS FOR MALLORCA IN 2012 (09th Feb 12)

THREE KINGS - THE FESTIVITIES CONTINUE! (05th Jan 12)