Four islands, one country... New York!

Ibiza“New York, New York!”, sang Frank Sinatra with his bass-baritone voice and exultant enthusiasm. With the same joy, or more, the news of the new direct flight between El Codolar and New York, specifically with Newark airport, about 24 kilometers from the city, has been received by the Ibizan tourism sector. “Great news for Ibiza”, said the Ibizan Council; a valuation that has been replicated by the Tourism Board, hoteliers, and travel agencies. It is certainly a remarkable fact that an airport named after a pebble beach connects directly with a city of 8.8 million inhabitants, one of the cultural capitals of the world; about 22 million people live in the New York metropolitan area, a figure that helps us calibrate the potential of the destination. The new route will begin in June 2027 with four weekly flights; tickets can already be purchased on the United Airlines website starting at 587 euros, prices that quickly climb towards 1,000 euros or more as the season progresses.

In reality, in case the route is an absolute success, we won't notice it much either: the plane that will operate the route, an Airbus A321XLR, is configured with a maximum capacity of 220 passengers: 880 more tourists per week are a drop in the huge and stormy sea of visitors that El Codolar receives: in July alone, about 711,000 tourists arrived in Ibiza and Formentera, 2.12 million if we take the total for the first six months of the year. If the route manages to consolidate, it will surely also be well received among the Pityusic islanders, who will be able to visit the ‘city that never sleeps’ –as Frank Sinatra says– without having to go through Barcelona, Madrid, or Palma.

Paranormal Menorca

You will have to continue going through Palma if you want to travel this summer from Ibiza to Menorca or vice versa. We Ibizans love Menorca; I have never known an Ibizan who doesn't speak well of it. I don't know what the Menorcans say about us, I suppose not much, given the few facilities they have to visit us. We Pityusic islanders would go there, to Menorca, more often if we didn't have to go through Palma and spend the same amount of time as if you were going to Berlin.

The direct connection between Mahón and Ibiza has paranormal qualities: it appears and disappears from the radar inexplicably. During the summer of 2025, Air Nostrum maintained a few direct weekly connections, connections that have magically vanished this 2026, without provoking the anger or surprise of those affected, nor any reaction from the competent authorities. That is what happens when you get used to specters: it is just as normal if they come or if they go. It is thus that, in the mind of an Ibizan, the Menorcan lands have the quality of something elusive, like an old familiar ghost, which one knows is very close, which is at least a first cousin, but which almost never results accessible to the senses. This 2026, Air Nostrum established a single and unique direct connection between Ibiza and Mahón for the Sant Joan festivities, on June 22nd; surely in Ciutadella they have been very happy to add a few Ibizans to the traditional saturation they suffer on those dates.

If, right now, you want to go from Ibiza to Menorca, or vice versa, the economic cost will not be small either: a little more than 100 euros with the resident discount. Without this discount, a round trip between Ibiza and Mahón, for example the weekend of September 11th to 13th, will cost you from 367 euros (to travel 270 kilometers!). Well, if you are a tourist and intend to take a tour around the Balearic Islands using air transport, the prices you will face are truly dissuasive.

For some reason that escapes me, everyone believes it is very convenient to connect each of the islands that make up the Balearic Islands with the maximum number of possible destinations, but it is inconceivable that tourists could visit Menorca and Ibiza in a single vacation period. If the Balearic Islands could have any charm as a joint tourist destination, it is, precisely, the proximity and at the same time the extraordinary diversity that each island represents –“All different, no two are the same, Balearic Islands”, sang the members of Antònia Font

And now that we have addressed the paranormal part, let's move on to the political part. The lack of a direct, regular, and permanent connection between Ibiza and Menorca (the second and third most populated islands of the Archipelago: 176,000 inhabitants if we add Ibiza and Formentera, 102,000 inhabitants on the island of Menorca) explains very well what the Balearic Islands are as an autonomous community: nothing. It is because of things like these that talking about Balearic sentiment or identity is truly fanciful.

During the first government of Francesc Antich, back around the year 1999, it occurred to them to launch a well-intentioned slogan: 'Four islands, one country, no borders'. No one else has tried it again. The fact that the air connection between Menorca and Ibiza is not guaranteed by law also explains what political capacity the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands has: none. From the Spanish point of view, it is a community thought of only as a holiday destination and which perfectly imitates the radial scheme of the Peninsula in terms of transport: there you will have to go through Madrid and here you will have to go through Palma. But, don't worry, we Ibizans will soon be able to go eat lobster stew in New York.