The airports of the Islands move 56% more people in August than 20 years ago

PalmaTwenty years are enough to understand to what extent the size of the Balearic Islands' airports has changed. Between January and August 2006, 20.9 million passengers passed through the airfields of Palma, Ibiza, and Menorca. In the same period this year, 34.3 million have already passed through. That is 13.4 million more travelers in just two decades, an increase that in the island airports as a whole stands at 64.3%.

Growth is not just the result of extending the tourist season, which is what institutions officially and repeatedly declare. The comparison of August, traditionally the moment of maximum pressure on the Islands, points in the same direction. Between 2006 and 2026, August passengers have increased by 52% in Palma; 72.6% in Ibiza, and 52.8% in Menorca. In total, 2.5 million more passengers this month, 56% more in the set of the three airports in two decades.

This year, moreover, Palma and Ibiza have once again registered maximums in the middle of August. Son Sant Joan reached 4,808,295 passengers, 2.3% more than in August of last year, while Ibiza registered 1,519,201, 2.5% more. Menorca also grew, up to 765,701 travelers, 1.8% more year-on-year.

Behind this global figure there are even more striking developments. Ibiza has more than doubled the number of passengers between January and August in just twenty years. El Codolar went from 3,237,796 passengers in 2006 to 6,778,163 in 2026. This is more than 3.5 million additional passengers and a growth of 109.3%.

In Palma the increase is smaller in percentage terms, but much higher in absolute numbers. Son Sant Joan has gone from 15,729,807 passengers in the first eight months of 2006 to 24,402,872 currently. This means 8.67 million more travelers, a 55.1% increase. Menorca, for its part, has gone from 1,927,083 passengers to 3,142,709: 1.21 million more and an increase of 63.1%.

The data arrive in parallel with the discourse of tourism containment defended by Marga Prohens' Government. The president assured Parliament on September 9th that a “change in trend” is taking place and that, during the high season, the Islands have entered a pattern of containment, while growth is progressively shifting towards the mid and low seasons. The Executive defends that the goal is to grow more in value and not in volume, but the figures do not stop increasing.

1 billion to expand

This evolution also coincides with a new investment phase for Aena. The Council of Ministers approved the DORA III on September 15, the document that will regulate investments, capacity, and airport tariffs between 2027 and 2031. The plan will mobilize nearly 13 billion euros across the state network, and more than 1 billion corresponds to actions at the airports of Palma, Ibiza, Menorca, and Son Bonet.

The document does not present these investments as a policy explicitly intended to attract more visitors: Aena justifies them based on issues of capacity, safety, quality, maintenance, and infrastructure adaptation. But the official planning is built on a scenario of air traffic growth in all areas. The Spanish government expects the entire network to exceed 363 million passengers by 2031.

In the Balearic Islands, forecasts also point upwards. The DORA projects 1.4 million more passengers at Son Sant Joan and 2.12 million more across all the islands' airports during the planning period, according to data collected this week by ARA Balears.

The case of Ibiza especially exemplifies the controversy. The planning places the airport at 9.17 million passengers in 2027 and 9.72 million in 2031, 550,000 more annual travelers in four years. Aena maintains that the planned reform, valued at about 230 million, does not aim to increase capacity, but rather to adapt the facilities to security requirements and improve service. GEN-GOB, on the other hand, questions this interpretation and has also denounced the possible effects of the works on ses Salines.

All of this is happening in a context where airport policy has become one of the main focuses of social contestation in the Islands. After years of mobilizations against tourist saturation, the protests have been directed more and more explicitly towards Aena, the expansion of infrastructure, and the lack of decision-making capacity of the Balearic institutions.

In Mallorca, the Platform against the Airport Expansion demands, among other measures, stopping new routes, limiting night flights and private jets, and moving towards a co-management system that allows for intervention regarding the capacity of Son Sant Joan. Its spokespersons have lamented in recent weeks how left-wing and right-wing governments have presented as great victories the openings of new international routes (United States, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates) which are also operated with high-capacity aircraft.

In Ibiza, the protest promoted by the Ibiza Youth Association has the support of various social, environmental, and neighborhood entities, and even proposes reducing the number of operations.