'Out Aena from our airports': ASM launches a campaign to demand more control of the Islands over Son Sant Joan

PalmaThe Sovereign Assembly of Mallorca (ASM) has called for Aena to stop managing the airports of the Balearic Islands and for the institutions of the Archipelago to have more decision-making capacity over these infrastructures. The proposal is included in a manifesto published this Friday under the slogan 'Aena out of our airports'.

The ASM says that since Aena was 49% privatized in 2015 by the government of Mariano Rajoy (PP), it has functioned as "a monstrous multinational". As they criticize, it treats the institutions and civil society of the Balearic Islands, whether from Ibiza, Formentera, Menorca or Mallorca, "as mere passive spectators with no real decision-making power over airport design" when it turns out that Palma airport "is the third in the state in terms of passenger volume, but it is one of the least valued by users due to the volume of incidents, high operational pressure, saturation, chaos caused by endless works, leaks and floods when it rains a little".

The document focuses especially on Palma airport, which it considers a strategic infrastructure for the residents of the Islands, and criticizes issues such as saturation, parking fees, labor conditions of outsourced services, and the commercial model of the terminals. It also denounces that the most profitable airports in the Archipelago contribute to Aena's "single pot" system.

The manifesto also dedicates a specific section to Son Bonet, which it turns into one of the symbols of its claim due to the opposition to the project of a large photovoltaic park at Marratxí airport. The ASM considers that the institutions and Balearic society should have more weight in decisions about airport infrastructures.

The initiative ends with a call to gather support and the slogan 'Out with Aena from our airports! Decolonization and independence!'.