Mallorca airport protest over 50m Balearics plan

Protesters marched through Palma, Mallorca, and Eivissa on Sunday against airport expansion plans and the Balearic Government’s tourism promotion policies. The Palma march ran from the Government Delegation to the Consolat de Mar, while around 2,000 people joined the demonstration in Eivissa.

The protests follow publication of DORA III, Aena’s airport planning document, which envisages up to 50 million passengers across the Balearic Islands’ airports by 2031. Demonstrators say that growth would deepen tourist pressure on the islands.

Palma demands fewer flights

In Palma, campaigners called for fewer flights, an end to private aircraft and a halt to night flights. They also criticised new connections to destinations including Abu Dhabi and Canada, arguing that these conflict with the Government’s stated aim of limiting growth.

Pere Joan Femenia, spokesman for the platform against the airport expansion, warned of tourist and climate “collapse”. He said Palma had exceeded its limit of 66 flights an hour on 18 occasions. Campaigners also put the number of private flights across the Balearics in 2025 at 23,000.

Residents of Colònia de Sant Jordi raised the impact of aircraft passing over homes after midnight. A representative said the opening of Palma airport’s second runway in the 1970s had brought lasting hardship.

Eivissa backs a ‘liveable’ island

The Eivissa protest, organised by the Associació de Joves d’Eivissa, began on Passeig de Vara de Rey and moved through the town to Parc de la Reina Sofía. There, organisers said the proposed airport refurbishment would create excessive and unsustainable growth in tourist capacity.

They accused Aena of seeking larger facilities to increase overcrowding and visitor numbers on the Pityusic Islands. Around 50 organisations backed their manifesto, demanding a say in decisions affecting their territory and calling for a liveable Eivissa rather than a bigger one.

Topics: Protests · Tourism · Politics · Palma · Ses Salines · Marratxí

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com