The Government denies the request for the expansion of the airports that the DORA III file attributes to it

PalmaThe justification memorandum for DORA III, the Airport Regulation Document that sets the investments, capacity, and rates for Aena airports between 2027 and 2031, states that the Balearic Islands requested more investments to be able to expand airport capacity. The Balearic Government has categorically denied this, insisted that this point "is false," and asserted that it only requested "safety improvements and modernizations." Thus, it has shared a letter sent by the executive to the Balearic Airport Coordination Committee in which it specified that the improvements it was requesting were "not linked to an increase in passengers".

The approval of DORA III this week has consolidated a new increase in air traffic and places the three major airports of the Islands at the threshold of 50 million annual passengers by 2031. In the supporting memorandum to which this newspaper has had access, the document adds: "Andalusia, Asturias, the Valencian Community, Extremadura, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands requested the incorporation of structural investments oriented towards capacity expansion [...] with the aim of absorbing the growth in demand". It also explains that these communities requested investments to carry out actions in "terminal buildings, platforms, runways and airfields, with the aim of absorbing the growth in demand, avoiding saturation levels and ensuring adequate levels of service quality". Furthermore, it highlights that the Islands requested that investments be reinforced in "road and rail access, land transport management, parking and intermodal connections".

When asked about this issue in the press conference following the Government Council, the vice president and spokesperson Antoni Costa said that it is "false" that the Government requested an expansion. "The Government requested safety improvements and modernizations, yes, but expansions, no," he defended. Regarding everything that refers to an expansion, he said, "they will find us against it." Hours later, sources from the Executive made known to the media a letter that the Minister of Housing, José Luis Mateo, sent to the secretary of the Airport Coordination Committee of the Islands, Tomás Melgar, with allegations to the DORA III project. At no point in this text is a capacity expansion requested, nor an increase in flights or passengers. In fact, Mateo claims "improvements not linked to an increase in passengers and aimed at minimizing the impacts of general infrastructure on the territory, in our case insular and limited".

The letter sent by the Government demands that the Autonomous Community have a voice and a vote in airport management decisions due to its status as an archipelago. Furthermore, it denounces that the 680 million euro investment proposed in the DORA 2027-2031 is far too insufficient when compared to other state airports like Madrid-Barajas. It calls for improving access and parking for residents, including funding for the rail connection to Palma airport, promoting decarbonization and climate resilience of the facilities, building a new control tower in Menorca to replace the current one from 1968, projecting an image committed to sustainable tourism, and applying a reduction or subsidy to airport taxes to incentivize connectivity in the low season, especially in Ibiza and Menorca.

President Marga Prohens stated last Wednesday that she considered it "a misguided policy" for the Balearic airports to reach nearly 50 million annual passengers by 2031. "I agree that this figure is scary," she said. She also accused the state government of viewing the islands' airports "only as a cash register," and argued that the proposal for airport co-management makes "more sense than ever".

Sources from the PSIB accuse the president of "lying to the citizens again." "The Government was not only informed, but also proposed airport improvement investments," they point out. "They were aware of the drafting of the DORA, they accepted the figures, and, furthermore, they conveyed their favorable opinion," they insist.