The airports of the Balearic Islands will receive 50 million passengers in 2031

PalmaThe Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the new Airport Regulation Document (DORA III), which will mark the investments, capacity, and tariffs of the airports of Aena 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 threshold of 50 million annual passengers by the end of the period.

The forecasts included in the DORA place Palma airport at 35.67 million passengers in 2031, compared to the 34.27 million forecast for 2027. This means 1.4 million more annual travelers just at Son Sant Joan. Ibiza would go from 9.17 to 9.72 million, 550,000 more, while Menorca would grow from 4.28 to 4.45 million, 170,000 more.

Overall, the three airports would go from 47.72 million passengers in 2027 to 49.84 million in 2031. That is 2.12 million more annual passengers in just four years. It is, therefore, the official confirmation of the scenario that ARA Balears had already warned about at the beginning of the year: the islands' airports are heading towards 50 million annual passengers.

The approval is part of a much broader plan for the entire Aena network. DORA III will mobilize nearly 13 billion euros between 2027 and 2031, the highest airport investment in recent decades. The Government is basing its forecast on the traffic for the entire network increasing from the 321 million passengers registered in 2025 to about 358 million in 2031.

It is this philosophy that directly affects the Balearic Islands. The Ministry of Transport had already argued that DORA investments should serve to “adapt infrastructure to demand growth” and had specifically pointed out the need to act at airports that are approaching their maximum theoretical capacity.

In the case of Son Sant Joan, Aena's proposal presented in February reserved 621.6 million euros for the 2027-2031 period, 46% more than during the previous five-year period. The planned actions affect aircraft stands, runway and taxiway pavements, boarding bridges, parking lots, and other infrastructure. The current remodeling of the terminal area still corresponds to the previous DORA.

The other major decision of the DORA is that of airport tariffs. The Government has opted for an average annual increase of only 0.33%, approximately three cents per passenger per year. It is much lower than the 3.82% that Aena demanded and leaves the tariffs practically frozen during the five-year period.

MORE: "The Balearic Islands cannot assume more growth"

The first political reaction in the Islands has come from MÉS per Mallorca. The deputy in Congress Vicenç Vidal has denounced that the new DORA “programs a new increase in the number of passengers” and has warned that the Archipelago cannot take on more pressure. “The Balearic Islands cannot take on more growth. We do not need to prepare the airports to receive two million more passengers. We need to set limits on a saturation that already has consequences on the territory, housing, mobility and quality of life”, he stated.

MÉS also questions whether the increase in investment will serve to continue increasing airport capacity. “The Balearic airports do not need more expansions. They need decent public transport, a reduction in emissions, and to minimize the impacts they generate. Investments to guarantee safety, connectivity for residents, and quality of service, yes; investments to continue growing, no,” noted Vidal.

The approval of the DORA arrives, precisely, in the midst of the debate over whether the works that Aena is executing at the islands' airports are simple modernizations or imply a real increase in their capacity. Aena has repeatedly defended that the actions at Son Sant Joan do not constitute an expansion of the airport. Conversely, environmental organizations and experts consulted by ARA Balears have warned that the new infrastructure allows for the management of a higher volume of passengers. The new DORA now puts a figure on this debate: 35.67 million in Palma and 49.84 million across the Balearic Islands by 2031.

Prohens criticizes the DORA

The President of the Government, Marga Prohens, considers it "a misguided policy" that the Balearic airports could reach nearly 50 million annual passengers by 2031. "I agree that this figure is scary," she stated this Wednesday in Petra.

Prohens has assured that the Government has not been consulted regarding the DORA III forecasts and has criticized that the state airport planning goes against the "containment" policy defended by the Balearic Executive.

The President has accused the state government of seeing the islands' airports "only as a cash register" and has defended that the airport co-management proposal makes "more sense than ever." She also pointed to Francina Armengol and demanded that the initiative approved by the Parliament reach the Congress.