The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the new Airport Regulation Document (DORA III), which will set the investments, capacity, and tariffs of Aena airports between 2027 and 2031. For the Balearic Islands, the approval consolidates a new increase in air traffic and places the three major airports of the Islands at the gates of 50 million annual passengers by the end of the period.

At the beginning of the sixties, the Son Sant Joan airport was inaugurated in Palma, replacing the one in Son Bonet, and the Majorcans welcomed tourists at the foot of the runway with bouquets of flowers. The gateway to the island was just that, a door. Today that door has become a piece of machinery that has a lot, or everything, of a shredder. It is not a very exaggerated metaphor. Because Aena is no longer satisfied with managing an airport: it expands it, fills it, sells it, rents it, exploits it, and extracts as much juice from it as it can. Let us never forget that Aena is a majority public company. That is to say, this big business is very public, but very little of it is ours.

Neither the frontal rejection by the Marratxí City Council, nor the neighborhood mobilization, nor even a unanimous agreement of the Parliament of the Balearic Islands have stopped, for the moment, the processing of the large photovoltaic park that Aena wants to implement on the grounds of the Son Bonet airfield.

Aena considers the Balearic Islands airport co-management bill to be unconstitutional and has warned that it will take "the necessary decisions" to defend its interests if the text is finally approved in the Congress of Deputies.

The island Minister of Tourism, Guillem Ginard, accuses the PSOE of defending containment in Mallorca and growth in Madrid. After ARA Balears reported this Tuesday the lifting of the veto by the Bureau of the Congress of Deputies on the processing of the Bill for airport co-management approved by the Parliament of the Balearic Islands, Ginard has called for “seriousness” and an in-depth debate on the future of the airport and the tourism model of Mallorca. "We are talking about the island's main economic engine. They cannot ask us to contain tourist activity and listen to the people while the State works in the opposite direction," he warned.

The Balearic Parliament approved a bill for the creation of an airport authority for the Balearic Islands, also declared itself against the works announced at Ibiza airport, on June 2, and pronouncements have been made against the planned expansion at Menorca airport. In my opinion, these demonstrations and positions are made out of ignorance, prejudice, or more unconfessable intentions.If we talk about going to a sustainable model and against massification, I agree, but it won't be by attacking and blaming Aena as we will clarify. To defend the autonomous management or co-management of airports, and to oppose Aena, it is said that if we manage the airports from here, public or social interest will prevail, and connectivity will be better. And recently a new one has been added: Aena is responsible for the tourist overcrowding we are suffering and, therefore, we need to move to a new management model to avoid it. The truth, however, is that there is no argument to support this position, beyond populist, not to say demagogic, expressions, and simple answers to complicated problems.Imagine you that because of waiting lists or the lack of doctors, nurses and specialists in public healthcare the solution was to privatize healthcare? Something similar is happening with the airport self-management/co-management proposal or the attacks on Aena.Aena is the leading airport operator worldwide, moving 10.8% of Spain's GDP and, according to an Incosa study, in the last decade, Aena has become the most successful European air model, and it doesn't cost us a cent! You read that right, it costs us nothing, it is self-financed with airport fees and what it invoices to companies that carry out commercial or economic activity there.Breaking it up would only make management more expensive and increase problems.Mass tourism is not a consequence of Aena's management, which, we recall, manages airports of general interest by constitutional mandate of article 149.1.20a; and, therefore, manages the airports of Ibiza with 9,138,224 passengers in 2025 and that of Menorca with 4,210,152 in the same year, two islands similar in terms of square kilometers and the same manager, but with a very different economic evolution. The first island has bet since the sixties of the last century on a model based on the tourism sector, while Menorca had a more diversified economy with more presence of the primary and secondary sectors.Aena also does not control the number of flights and slots. In Europe it is regulated by Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 and in Spain, since 2014, it is AEFCA, an independent body, that determines the slots based on the capacity declared by each airport and the historical rights of the airlines.  The works announced in both Ibiza and Menorca are not aimed at increasing the declared capacity, but at providing solutions to structural problems in both terminals, which are not well dimensioned for the current number of passengers. Increasing the declared capacity is what should really alarm us.Does this mean that Aena is doing everything right, that there is no room for improvement, that we can do nothing? Well no, but the political and social initiatives in our autonomous community should be directed in another direction and address the real problems we have at our airports. Firstly, fight for the reversal of the 49% privatization carried out in 2015, in compliance with article 128.1 of the Constitution. Secondly, ensure that they have the necessary staff, as they claimed at Menorca airport on July 21st, or more recently in Ibiza on August 24th with gatherings, not forgetting Son Sant Joan and Son Bonet. The same applies to the staff of many airport contracts, be they companies of handling, security, restoration or cleaning. Thirdly, to have the essential infrastructures. The most urgent case, that of a new control tower at Menorca airport. Fourthly, to demand compliance with occupational risk prevention regulations, which are very deficient. Fifthly, to actively participate in airport coordination committees and improve their composition and competences. Finally, if we really want to combat mass tourism, we must decrease, regulate tourist rentals, intervene in the housing market, limit vehicle entry and reorient the economy towards more sustainable sectors. And all of this is within the autonomous and municipal power, but it is easier to blame Aena for everything. By the way, and what about the ports where the Autonomous Community participates? In the case of APB (and, therefore, of the influx of cruise ships) it has the competences of the Ports of the Balearic Islands, which manages, among others, the port of Ciutadella, where we have gone from 205,461 passengers in 2012 to 643,582 in 2025 (and they want to expand it). But it's better not to talk about that, right? We can go against Aena, like Don Quixote against the windmills, thinking they were giants. But they were not giants, they were windmills. The sooner we open our eyes, the better, lest by attacking the windmills' sails we get hurt.

Although public discourse advocates for distributing tourists during winter and reducing arrivals or, at least, preventing an increase in summer, reality is stubborn: in July 2026, and throughout the high season, Palma airport has broken records. With 19.6 million passengers achieved by July, Son Sant Joan confirms that the increase is not stopping and that, moreover, it is concentrated between May and July, awaiting what may happen during August.

Palma Airport will exceed its capacity for 18 days this August, meaning more than half the month, according to a report by Eurocontrol. The airport of the Balearic capital is the only Spanish airport on the list, compiled by the intergovernmental organization responsible for air traffic management in Europe, which anticipates mismatches between demand and capacity throughout both August and September.

It turns out that the influencer Mercè Molinas arrived at Ibiza airport one day in July and found a DJ playing in the middle of the duty free. Since she is an influencer and does this, influencing, the girl made a video that has gone viral and has accumulated more than 210,000 views on her Instagram account alone (@mercemolinas). The publication is from last July 13th. This DJ thing has stirred up some dust. Ibiza airport has been sold to nightclubs in the form of advertising for days now – if you think I'm exaggerating, visit the arrivals or baggage claim area – but to put a DJ there on top of it!... I want to assume that the event will have caused some perplexity, discomfort if nothing else, among the politicians and Ibizan prominent figures who, just a couple of days before, were receiving Aena's explanations about the Codolar expansion; a project that, virtually, could almost double the airport's capacity.

Aena's works council at Menorca airport has warned that it does not rule out calling a strike during the August 15th long weekend if management maintains its stance and does not open negotiations to strengthen the workforce. The mobilization comes after reporting that the increase in passengers and operations in recent years has not been accompanied by an increase in staff.

Complaints about the high temperature at Palma Airport are gaining strength. If a few weeks ago it was UGT who denounced the conditions under which part of the staff works during heatwaves, now CCOO has also joined the claims and assures that the situation puts workers' health at risk.

Govern after govern, councilor after councilor, plan after plan, day after day, and presentation after presentation. Good words, intentions, and, for some time now, a certain self-criticism have succeeded one another. “We are at the limit.” Now, even the PP admits that the Islands are on the verge of collapse.

The GEN-GOB has filed a complaint with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Ministry for Ecological Transition, the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, and the State Air Safety Agency against AENA's plans to expand the capacity of Ibiza airport. The entity considers that the projects planned in the Airport Regulation Document (DORA III) violate the current Master Plan and prioritize economic benefit over the general interest and the protection of the territory.

While Aena and the island and regional governments pass the buck over who is responsible for the saturation, the saturation does not stop increasing. In the first six months of 2026, Mallorca's main airport has once again pulverized all its records and is already close to 15 million passengers (14.9), which represents 14% more than just three years ago, compared to the first semester of 2023.

The Government and most of the islands' parties have once again attacked Aena's management of the airport. The plenary session of the Parliament unanimously opposed this Tuesday the advertising campaign of 'Malle' by a German financial group. Furthermore, with the PSIB voting against it, it has censured both the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and the president of Aena, Maurici Lucena, both for inaction in removing this advertisement and for promoting airport policies against the interests of the citizens of the islands, including the expansion of Ibiza airport.

The director of Eivissa Airport, Marta Torres, defended this Thursday the expansion project promoted by Aena and denied that the objective is to increase the infrastructure's capacity or attract more tourists. "There is no intention related to a change in capacity," she assured during a press conference in which she presented the main lines of an action that foresees an investment of 230 million euros between 2027 and 2031.

The Government has once again lashed out at Aena over the advertising campaign located at Palma airport, which it considers to be encouraging excessive tourism. The Executive has taken the opportunity to advocate for the airport co-management law – pending approval in Congress – as a tool to have more decision-making capacity in situations like this.

‘Malle’ is Mallorca. Thus, with this word, ‘Malle’, the slogan of a huge advertising billboard that you can see on the facade of the Son Sant Joan airport car park refers to the island, and which has caused disgust due to the idea it conveys about Mallorca, as a place of uncontrolled tourism where anything goes and one doesn't need to be picky about anything. You can read in ARA Balears's chronicle by Aina Vidal about the billboard and the controversy it has generated.The slogan in question is written only in German: “Was auf Malle passiert, wird auf Malle beglichen”, that is, “What happens in Mallorca is settled in Mallorca”. The reference to “settlement” is understandable because the advertising company is Wero, a digital payment service —like PayPal and Bizum— designed to operate within Europe. The advertisers' ingenuity cannot be disputed. What they are trying to tell German tourists (who are the target audience of the advertisement) is: “pay for your parties in Mallorca with Wero”. Pardon: not “in Mallorca”, but “in Malle”. What does “Malle” have to do with Mallorca?” It has to do with the fact that it is a diminutive, a kind of nickname that aims to be affectionate and at the same time roguish, for a place of ill repute. It plays on the reference to Las Vegas (the famous phrase ‘what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas’) and simply starts from the idea that Mallorca is a destination for beach, sex, and drunkenness tourism. It is not the equivalent of Mallorqueta or sa Roqueta, bland and prim denominations, which the most smug Majorcans still use to reduce themselves to a commonplace (which is not the same as a toilet). Malle has a resonance more of party, more nocturnal, more rowdy. It is the diminutive that the vicious but not very vicious, those who allow themselves an excess from time to time because they can afford it, give to the place they go to be naughty without having to give explanations. This is Malle: an island where it doesn't matter if it's five or fifty, where you don't have to worry about anyone being offended by your behavior, because what they want is for you to go there to lose yourself. All you need is money in your current account and a digital platform for small payments to cover the cost of your vice. The rest is secondary, starting with the native population of Malle, a completely irrelevant and despicable people, starting with their language. It is possible that you may encounter some of these natives, but do not pay the slightest attention to them.All this is also stated by Wero's sign on the facade of the Son Sant Joan car park: not in the text but in the subtext and context, which are equally important. To advertise like this (without even respecting that signage, by law, must be at least in Catalan, and also in Spanish) is an act of arrogance and contempt for which Aena is also responsible, allowing its advertisers to advertise in this way (the same Aena that also wants to double the capacity of Ibiza airport, because it is the main competitor in the race to finish squeezing the Balearic Islands and the Pitiusas until the last drop of juice they can give). The main responsible parties, however, are we Majorcans ourselves, who for decades have persisted in presenting ourselves as an island of greedy people fascinated by easy money, to the point of allowing anyone who fancies it to advertise at the airport —the gateway to the island, the first thing anyone arriving finds— saying that this place here is ca na Brutes and that it doesn't matter to suffer for anything, the only thing to do is pay and no one will say a peep. The saddest thing is that they are right. Welcome to Malle, Majorcans.