The Balearic airports break records in August while Prohens defends tourist containment

PalmaWhile a part of the island's society demands the co-management of airports as a measure to reduce the massive influx of tourists, the data confirm an inertia that seems impossible to change: the airports of Palma and Ibiza have once again broken historical records in the month of highest traffic. Son Sant Joan saw 4,808,295 passengers pass through, the highest monthly record in the island airport's history and 2.3% more than the same month in 2025. El Codolar moved 1,519,201 passengers, 2.5% more than in August 2025, and with the January-August cumulative total reaching 6,778,163 passengers, 3% more year-on-year.

Both in Mallorca and Ibiza there will be mobilizations this Sunday against the airport expansions. The protests contrast with a reality that, for the moment, shows no signs of slowing down, but rather of continuing with records year after year.

Son Sant Joan is already moving 3.3 million more passengers during the first eight months of the year than in the same period of 2019. In just seven years, Palma airport has gone from the 21.07 million passengers accumulated between January and August to 24.40 million this year, an increase of 15.8%. And it does so after once again surpassing its own ceiling. These increases exceed those of airports like Madrid and Barcelona, which despite growing, do not reach the increases of Son Sant Joan. But there are other tourist airports that have experienced a much greater expansion. Malaga has grown by around 42% compared to 2019; Alicante, by nearly 45%, and Valencia, by almost 50%.

In 2019, when figures on tourist pressure were already the focus of much of the public debate in the Islands, 21,074,830 people had passed through the airport by August. By 2023 it was already 21.82 million; in 2024, 23.45 million; last year, 23.88 million, and this year it has reached 24,402,872 passengers. That is 3,328,042 additional passengers in just the first eight months of the year compared to 2019. Son Sant Joan now manages almost 16% more passengers than it did seven years ago.

August once again shows that this growth is not only a consequence of greater activity during the mid and low season months. During the traditionally most intense month of the summer, 4.8 million people passed through the facilities. Domestic passengers reached 941,130 passengers, 3.3% more, and international passengers totaled 3,866,072 travelers, with an increase of 2.1%. Aircraft movements also grew: 32,324 take-offs and landings, 2.8% more than in 2025.

In the year-to-date, Son Sant Joan totals 24.4 million passengers, 2.2% more than in 2025, and 175,341 operations, 1.8% more. The annual increase is much more moderate than in previous years, but it is occurring on volumes that were already at historical highs.

Ibiza and Menorca are on the same path

In Ibiza, the comparison between the first seven months of 2019 and those of 2026 shows an evolution almost identical to that of Palma. Between January and July 2019, 4,509,687 passengers passed through the airport. This year, in the same period, there are already 5,258,962. That is 749,275 more travelers, an increase of 16.6%. Furthermore, just with respect to last year, Ibiza's traffic continues to increase: up to July it grew by 3.1%.

The case of Menorca is more pronounced. The Menorcan airport had registered 1,896,626 passengers between January and July of 2019. Seven years later, in the same period, it has accounted for 2,377,008. The difference is 480,382 passengers and is equivalent to an increase of 25.3%. Just with respect to 2025, Menorca is still growing this year by 2.7%, and in July it once again set a record with more than 745,000 travelers.

The data illustrate a phenomenon that affects the three air entry points of the Balearic Islands. Compared to 2019, Son Sant Joan is growing by 15.8% in the first eight months; Ibiza, by 16.6% through July, and Menorca, by 25.3%. The volume differences are enormous –Palma plays in a different league–, but the direction is the same on all the islands: the airports are now handling many more passengers than before the pandemic.

Data against the Government's narrative

The succession of airport records comes at a time when the President of the Government, Marga Prohens, publicly defends that tourism containment policies are already having effects. Last May, Prohens assured in Parliament that the Executive has been applying "tourism containment" measures since the beginning of the legislature, in the face of criticism from MÉS per Mallorca, which reproached her for not having taken sufficient initiatives to reduce saturation.

The president delved into this speech in September. In the Parliament plenary session on the 9th, she argued that a "change in trend" is taking place in the Balearic Islands and maintained that the growth of tourists is being concentrated in the mid and low seasons, while during the high season a pattern of 'containment' has been established. According to Prohens, this evolution contributes to deseasonalization and allows progress towards the Government's goal of growing more "in value" and not in volume.

Mobilizations that do not stop

The mobilizations that have been taking place for three years against saturation have intensified this summer. In addition to the one at Es Trenc, the most massive one in many years was called on July 26 in Palma. Now, specific protests against airports are arriving. In Palma, the Platform against the Airport Expansion—with the support of some fifteen social, environmental, and neighborhood entities—has called for the protest at 6:00 p.m. in front of the Spanish government delegation. Among the demands are stopping the implementation of new routes, limiting night flights and private jets, and moving towards airport co-management that allows for regulating the capacity of Son Sant Joan.

At the same time, there will be another mobilization in Ibiza, starting from the Alameda, on the Vara de Rey promenade. The Ibizan call is promoted by the Association of Youth of Ibiza and has the support, among other groups, of the Institute of Ibizan Studies, Friends of the Earth, GEN-GOB, and neighborhood associations from areas near the airport. The concentrations in Mallorca and Ibiza will also coincide with a similar protest in Barcelona.