It will be of absolutely no surprise to discover that last week a politician came out with something only partially linked to reality, but even so, what do we make of Biel and the Aena thing? B.B.B., Beleaguered Biel Barceló, had dragged Aena bigwigs (including its president) in for a chat. Things, Biel said afterwards, were fairly positive. Aena was listening to the government, which, for the record, comprised Biel, his oppo at tourism, Pilar Carbonell, and the Pons fellow from transport.
While Aena may have been listening to him (and them), it doesn't seem that they were listening to Aena. During the gathering, according to Biel, the airports authority had very kindly said that there will not be more flights per hour at Palma this summer. This, at any rate, was the first report. It was subsequently modified to Aena had said there won't be any increase this year, which was before Aena themselves realised that they had better speak up. They had said no such thing. They did not promise that there will not be more flights per hour this summer.
How was it that the different government representatives all appeared to have misheard what Aena had said? One guesses that the meeting was in Castellano, so possibly they were a bit slow on the uptake. But one doubts it. They do, after all, get enough practice with Castellano when going off to Madrid to harangue ministers over finance, residents' discounts and what have you. So what was the cause of the misunderstanding? Had Biel just imagined they'd said it, or what?
More peculiar than the apparent misreporting of Aena's words was the total silence from the massed ranks of the rest of the government. Yet, when Aena had first let it be known that more flights per hour were likely, you couldn't keep any of them from having prolonged rants, especially Biel. The increase would, more or less, mean the end of civilisation in Mallorca as we know it. Or it would at least lead to everything collapsing and no one being able to move because of the sheer volume of touristic humanity.
This time, though, not a dicky bird. Why was that, do you suppose? Was it a case of protecting Biel. With the police now hovering over the Més contracts and spying potential irregularities of the possibly corrupt variety, Biel is clinging to the political raft. It was better, therefore, for it to have appeared that Biel had extracted an Aena promise, and then keep mum when it emerged that he hadn't.
The silence, given the prospect of ever greater saturation of tourists, was even more surprising because for most of last week various authorities were taking it in turns to shut things down, like roads leading to beauty-spots and beaches. The way things are going, tourists appear destined to find their every attempt to make it to the coasts blocked by members of the local plods barring their way and brandishing access-denied notices. This of course assumes that there are any roads open that enable them to get as far as ones with road blocks. Yesterday, there weren't any open. Bloody cyclists all over the place and out for one massive bike ride across the island - all 6,000 or so of them.
Index for April 2017
Aena and flights at Palma - 30 April 2017
April start of the season - 1 April 2017
Aurora Picornell - 26 April 2017
Biel Barceló - 17 April 2017
Convair at the airport - 12 April 2017
Davallament - 13 April 2017
Environmental commitment - 20 April 2017
Expatriates - 25 April 2017
Fanny Tur - 9 April 2017
Holiday rentals - 7 April 2017, 18 April 2017, 22 April 2017, 29 April 2017
Jaume Garau and Més - 5 April 2017, 11 April 2017
Kelvin MacKenzie - 16 April 2017
Mediterranean culture - 15 April 2016, 21 April 2017
Palma auditorium - 3 April 2017
Palma, La Palma ... - 10 April 2017
Podemos and their bus - 24 April 2017
Pollensa villas' legality - 4 April 2017
Rules and traditions - 6 April 2017
Ruth Mateu (Més) resignation - 2 April 2017
Sex and Mallorca - 28 April 2017
Too many cars - 27 April 2017
Tourist information offices - 8 April 2017
Tourist tax - 19 April 2017
Wine exports to the USA - 29 April 2017
Zombies and Spanish defence - 23 April 2017
Showing posts with label Palma Airport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palma Airport. Show all posts
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
The Comet And The Convair
An article posted on the BBC website on 5 April tells the story of the "British airliner that changed the world". It was the de Havilland Comet. The first scheduled flight, following the period of testing, was in May 1952. The airline was BOAC (remember them?), and the route reflected a Britain of that post-war period. It flew to Rome and on to Beirut, Khartoum, Entebbe, Livingstone and Johannesburg. It took 23 hours.
Although this original jet had a design that was both futuristic and fantastic, there were fundamental flaws. They were to prove to be fatal. The rectangular windows (a source of stress) and the aircraft's skin, which was too thin, were what made Comets explode and drop out of the skies.
By the time that a later version was available, the Comet 4 of 1958, Boeing's 707 had claimed the skies. The far more robust and reliable Comet 4 was, though, still a product of the days before air travel became massive. It could carry 92 passengers; the original had room for 36. The BBC's article gives a flavour of its "luxurious comfort". There is a photo of an air stewardess serving wine.
That photo provides something of a connection with the Palma town hall angle. A dossier has been put together by the Asociación Amics de Son Sant Joan, the friends of Son Sant Joan airport. In this dossier, there is an air stewardess serving what looks like a soft drink as well as some wine (not together, it should be noted). This dossier is for the project to restore the Convair 990A Coronado de Spantax EC-BZO. This aircraft has been rotting away at the airport for 29 years.
The predecessor to the 990 was the 880. Convair, a division of General Dynamics, joined the jet race with Boeing, Douglas and de Havilland, and came up with something similar to the 707. The 990 came into service in 1962. It was Swissair which named it Coronado, but it wasn't to survive for long. Production ceased almost as soon as it had begun. Neither the 880 nor the 990 was what the major airlines were looking for.
Spantax provides one of the more fabulous if disastrous stories of Spanish aviation. Founded in 1959 as Spain Air Taxi, its original base was Gran Canaria. This was switched to Palma because Mallorca offered the promise of greater tourist traffic. Its co-founder was the splendid Rodolfo Bay Wright. There is the grand tale of him piloting German journalists to Hamburg in a 990 to demonstrate the plane's safety. On landing, he managed to stop the plane just before it would have gone into an office building. If this wasn't bad enough, there was the small matter of having landed at the wrong airport.
Spantax was to have more serious incidents involving the 990. All passengers on board a flight to Tenerife were killed in a crash in 1972. There was a mid-air collision with a DC9. Remarkably, the plane made an emergency landing. The DC9 was not so lucky. On top of these accidents, there were the deaths of three passengers because of food poisoning.
By the mid-1980s, Spantax was easing out what remained of its old 990 fleet. By then, it wasn't an economic plane to operate. Meanwhile, Spantax had its economic problems. The airline filed for bankruptcy in 1988.
Which brings us to the abandoned Convair 990A Coronado de Spantax EC-BZO. On 31 March, Palma town hall's council meeting officially gave its support to the attempt by the friends of Son Sant Joan to restore the last 990 left behind in Palma after the collapse of Spantax. The plane is in the military base area, and the Spanish Air Force would rather it wasn't there. It's wanted rid of it for years.
Eight years ago, therefore, the campaign was launched to save the 990. The town hall, while giving its support, doesn't seem likely to dip into its pockets. Instead, it has urged the Council of Mallorca to help find a suitable location for the plane so that it can be exhibited and become something of an attraction.
In fact, and thanks to an association member who used to work for Spantax and now for Enaire (the airport authority Aena is a subsidiary of Enaire), the plane was given a protection order in 2011. The Council of Mallorca decided that it is in the cultural interest. This places an obligation on the Council. However, its heritage commission has started the process for reversing the 2011 declaration.
So, what is to become of the 990, a plane symbolic of the tourism boom years and of the ever so slightly strange Spantax?
Photo of the Convair at Palma airport: http://www.sociedadaeronautica.org
The campaign for the Convair: http://www.ec-bzo.com/
The story of the Comet: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170404-the-british-airliner-that-changed-the-world
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Flights Just Keep On Increasing
Aena has announced that from Sunday, 26 March until 28 October, airlines' programmes provide for almost 29 million passenger places. This doesn't mean that there will be this number of passengers - the figure is for available places - but one needs to consider some context. For the same "summer" period last year, the provision was 26.4 million, a figure which was only slightly higher than the number of passengers who actually passed through the airport during the whole of the year (26.25 million).
When a similar announcement was made last year, the increase in places was over 16%. In the end, actual occupancy was around 80% of the total, but the announcement was enough to set the alarm bells of the "saturationists" ringing. The increased places this year won't all be sold, but whatever the sales may be, it seems quite possible that for the end-March to end-October period, the number of passengers for the whole of last year will be exceeded.
The increase will mainly apply to the spring and autumn months. In fact, the provisions for May are not out of the ordinary. For April and June they are. Easter is a major factor with the former. School holidays in some German states are a key factor in June. So much for German families opting to go elsewhere. But with more routes operating this summer (47 more), there will be more passengers in high summer as well.
However one looks at it, there are going to be ever more tourists this summer. An expectation made last year that the 27 million passengers' figure will be topped for the whole of 2017 can be discarded. It will be many more.
On the one hand, more tourists in the lower months of the summer is very good news. But on the other hand, the political one (and social one), the news is less good. Biel Barceló was talking recently, and somewhat strangely, about fewer numbers of summer tourists. He was plainly wrong, perhaps misinterpreting, as others had, what Tui had said in Berlin. For Barceló, being able to say this was to his political advantage. Now, though, he is going to face the ever greater ire of Podemos and some in his own party (Més). The pressure groups - GOB, Terraferida, etc. - will have a field day. The season hasn't started, but saturation is already with us, and this summer it will be saturation-plus.
The government reaction so far has been to say that an increase in high-summer flights is "unacceptable". There is no room for more tourists in high summer. One can anticipate there being stronger reactions.
Where does it end? It doesn't, it seems. Aena has given mixed messages about increasing flight capacity - one minute it will increase, the other it won't - and precisely why it is investing so heavily in the airport. The belief is that the capacity will rise to eighty flights per hour at some point. To cope with more routes and flights (14,000 more) this summer, the capacity will need to be increased. In fact, the airport's director has said that 79 flights can be dealt with. They may well need to be.
Even without this to consider, the fact that this summer's passenger (and flight) numbers are on the rise again will only reinforce demands for airport co-management.
When a similar announcement was made last year, the increase in places was over 16%. In the end, actual occupancy was around 80% of the total, but the announcement was enough to set the alarm bells of the "saturationists" ringing. The increased places this year won't all be sold, but whatever the sales may be, it seems quite possible that for the end-March to end-October period, the number of passengers for the whole of last year will be exceeded.
The increase will mainly apply to the spring and autumn months. In fact, the provisions for May are not out of the ordinary. For April and June they are. Easter is a major factor with the former. School holidays in some German states are a key factor in June. So much for German families opting to go elsewhere. But with more routes operating this summer (47 more), there will be more passengers in high summer as well.
However one looks at it, there are going to be ever more tourists this summer. An expectation made last year that the 27 million passengers' figure will be topped for the whole of 2017 can be discarded. It will be many more.
On the one hand, more tourists in the lower months of the summer is very good news. But on the other hand, the political one (and social one), the news is less good. Biel Barceló was talking recently, and somewhat strangely, about fewer numbers of summer tourists. He was plainly wrong, perhaps misinterpreting, as others had, what Tui had said in Berlin. For Barceló, being able to say this was to his political advantage. Now, though, he is going to face the ever greater ire of Podemos and some in his own party (Més). The pressure groups - GOB, Terraferida, etc. - will have a field day. The season hasn't started, but saturation is already with us, and this summer it will be saturation-plus.
The government reaction so far has been to say that an increase in high-summer flights is "unacceptable". There is no room for more tourists in high summer. One can anticipate there being stronger reactions.
Where does it end? It doesn't, it seems. Aena has given mixed messages about increasing flight capacity - one minute it will increase, the other it won't - and precisely why it is investing so heavily in the airport. The belief is that the capacity will rise to eighty flights per hour at some point. To cope with more routes and flights (14,000 more) this summer, the capacity will need to be increased. In fact, the airport's director has said that 79 flights can be dealt with. They may well need to be.
Even without this to consider, the fact that this summer's passenger (and flight) numbers are on the rise again will only reinforce demands for airport co-management.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Renaming Mallorca's Airport
There are any number of airports named after famous people. Generally speaking, they honour someone of particular merit who deserves to be associated with the airport's location. Occasionally, though, the naming causes a fuss. This was the case with Ian Fleming International Airport in Jamaica. Many a local felt that a Jamaican should have provided the name. The Bond writer got it on account of his Goldeneye Estate, which is next to, yes, James Bond Beach.
Names like Liverpool John Lennon brook little argument, except among those on the McCartney side of the divide. But the international fame that Liverpool acquired through Lennon (and the other fabs) was thorough justification. While that city has (or had) other candidates, they might have proved more contentious. It couldn't have been Liverpool Bill Shankly or Kenny Dalglish without having upset the blue side of Stanley Park who would have pressed the case for Liverpool Howard Kendall or Dixie Dean.
Generally speaking, the names are of modern provenance, but not all. No doubt to the disgust of Balearic historians who insist that Columbus didn't come from Genoa but was the son of either Felanitx or Ibiza Town, Genoa's airport is Cristoforo Colombo. It might be hoped that no one suddenly comes up with absolutely incontrovertible evidence of Columbus's Felanitx origins because this might make some pause when it comes to a new name for Palma airport.
A proposal for renaming the airport isn't the consequence of all the nonsense regarding the name of the city - for the moment, it is officially Palma, but will doubtless revert, officially, to Palma de Mallorca when the Partido Popular assume power once more at both town hall and regional government levels. The airport is known and will continue to be known, for the sake of international codes, as Palma de Mallorca. But it has an alternative name as it is, i.e. Son Sant Joan.
This name has a great deal of antiquity. Strictly speaking, its spelling is incorrect. It should be Son Santjoan, as it comes from the Santjoan family who came to Mallorca at the time of the conquest in the thirteenth century and acquired land: one possession was the Son Sant Joan where the airport now is. Other than the name of the possession, the Santjoans don't have any great claim on Mallorca's past, and the family line in fact died out in the seventeenth century.
The alternative name (or one in addition to Son Sant Joan) which is being proposed is Aeropuerto Ramon Llull. The person who has made the proposal is the Council of Mallorca's president, Miquel Ensenyat, and he has done so at the end of the "year" of Ramon Llull and at a time when he has been assisting the case for Llull to be named a saint and a doctor of the Catholic Church. Ensenyat also believes that the use of the Llull name would elevate Mallorca's cultural status and therefore be in line with, for example, Florence being Amerigo Vespucci or Pisa being Galileo Galilei (no mention of Genoa's airport, one notes).
Ensenyat of eco-nationalist, Mallorcan socialists Més appears to have the backing of the PP's Maria Salom, newly the national government's delegate in the Balearics. She says that she likes the idea and will raise it with the national ministry of development (and so also with Aena, the airports' authority). She does recognise that there are likely to be technical issues, though it should be noted that Madrid's airport was renamed following the death of the prime minister who led Spain through its initial democratic transition. The full name is now Aeropuerto Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas.
Should they rename the airport after the mediaeval man of mystery? I can think of no particularly good reason why not. Indeed, having often said that Llull isn't anything like as widely known internationally as Mallorcans might like to believe, it could have some benefit. There again, would anyone ever refer to it as Ramon Llull or be aware of the name or know he was? As it is, who outside Mallorca ever refers to the airport as Son Sant Joan? It's Palma (or Palma de Mallorca).
It would be more a case of domestic consumption, one fancies. And in this regard there would be support, if a poll of nearly two years ago is anything to go by. At the start of 2015, the Diario de Mallorca journalist Matias Vallés made a prediction that Mallorca's hoteliers would look to have the airport renamed Aeropuerto Rafael Nadal. A subsequent poll of readers offered four names - Llull, Nadal, Joan March (the widely despised Franco's banker) and Antoni Maura, the only Mallorcan to have been prime minister and one who verged on dictatorship before it had actually come into fashion.
Unsurprisingly, there wasn't a great deal of support for either March or Maura. Overwhelmingly (76% of the vote), Llull was favoured; Nadal got 17%. So there you have it, Llull it will be. Or may be.
Names like Liverpool John Lennon brook little argument, except among those on the McCartney side of the divide. But the international fame that Liverpool acquired through Lennon (and the other fabs) was thorough justification. While that city has (or had) other candidates, they might have proved more contentious. It couldn't have been Liverpool Bill Shankly or Kenny Dalglish without having upset the blue side of Stanley Park who would have pressed the case for Liverpool Howard Kendall or Dixie Dean.
Generally speaking, the names are of modern provenance, but not all. No doubt to the disgust of Balearic historians who insist that Columbus didn't come from Genoa but was the son of either Felanitx or Ibiza Town, Genoa's airport is Cristoforo Colombo. It might be hoped that no one suddenly comes up with absolutely incontrovertible evidence of Columbus's Felanitx origins because this might make some pause when it comes to a new name for Palma airport.
A proposal for renaming the airport isn't the consequence of all the nonsense regarding the name of the city - for the moment, it is officially Palma, but will doubtless revert, officially, to Palma de Mallorca when the Partido Popular assume power once more at both town hall and regional government levels. The airport is known and will continue to be known, for the sake of international codes, as Palma de Mallorca. But it has an alternative name as it is, i.e. Son Sant Joan.
This name has a great deal of antiquity. Strictly speaking, its spelling is incorrect. It should be Son Santjoan, as it comes from the Santjoan family who came to Mallorca at the time of the conquest in the thirteenth century and acquired land: one possession was the Son Sant Joan where the airport now is. Other than the name of the possession, the Santjoans don't have any great claim on Mallorca's past, and the family line in fact died out in the seventeenth century.
The alternative name (or one in addition to Son Sant Joan) which is being proposed is Aeropuerto Ramon Llull. The person who has made the proposal is the Council of Mallorca's president, Miquel Ensenyat, and he has done so at the end of the "year" of Ramon Llull and at a time when he has been assisting the case for Llull to be named a saint and a doctor of the Catholic Church. Ensenyat also believes that the use of the Llull name would elevate Mallorca's cultural status and therefore be in line with, for example, Florence being Amerigo Vespucci or Pisa being Galileo Galilei (no mention of Genoa's airport, one notes).
Ensenyat of eco-nationalist, Mallorcan socialists Més appears to have the backing of the PP's Maria Salom, newly the national government's delegate in the Balearics. She says that she likes the idea and will raise it with the national ministry of development (and so also with Aena, the airports' authority). She does recognise that there are likely to be technical issues, though it should be noted that Madrid's airport was renamed following the death of the prime minister who led Spain through its initial democratic transition. The full name is now Aeropuerto Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas.
Should they rename the airport after the mediaeval man of mystery? I can think of no particularly good reason why not. Indeed, having often said that Llull isn't anything like as widely known internationally as Mallorcans might like to believe, it could have some benefit. There again, would anyone ever refer to it as Ramon Llull or be aware of the name or know he was? As it is, who outside Mallorca ever refers to the airport as Son Sant Joan? It's Palma (or Palma de Mallorca).
It would be more a case of domestic consumption, one fancies. And in this regard there would be support, if a poll of nearly two years ago is anything to go by. At the start of 2015, the Diario de Mallorca journalist Matias Vallés made a prediction that Mallorca's hoteliers would look to have the airport renamed Aeropuerto Rafael Nadal. A subsequent poll of readers offered four names - Llull, Nadal, Joan March (the widely despised Franco's banker) and Antoni Maura, the only Mallorcan to have been prime minister and one who verged on dictatorship before it had actually come into fashion.
Unsurprisingly, there wasn't a great deal of support for either March or Maura. Overwhelmingly (76% of the vote), Llull was favoured; Nadal got 17%. So there you have it, Llull it will be. Or may be.
Friday, June 14, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Ryanair charges to take ensaïmadas on board
Ryanair is to charge passengers at Palam airport who take on as hand luggage ensaïmadas which exceed the maximum permissible dimensions (55x40x20). The cost will be eight euros. It is a common to see passengers taking ensaïmadas onto planes, as they are typical gifts for friends and family on the mainland. There is a fear that the move could have a negative effect on ensaïmada production and retailing.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Saturday, September 01, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Airport luggage trolleys to cost a euro from next year
Described by the USO union as a form of tax collection, the airports authority AENA is to introduce the payment of a euro for the use of luggage trolleys at Palma's Son Sant Joan airport from January 2013. The measure is not confined to Palma; at four others, all significant tourism airports, the charge will also apply.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Friday, August 31, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Palma airport bar workers to strike
Workers at bars and restaurants operated by the company Áreas at Palma airport are to stage a series of strikes in September and October in protest at a number of complaints the workers have the company. The first days of the strike are planned for 14, 15 and 16 September.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Wednesday, June 06, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Airport taxes to be reduced in winter
AENA, the national airports authority, has agreed to reduce taxes for the use of Balearic airports, including therefore Palma's Son Sant Joan, during the winter months from November to March. This is a move which is hoped might result in more winter flights.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Flying Into Money: Palma airport
Which is the most profitable airport in Spain? The answer is neither of the two airports with the greatest passenger numbers - Madrid's Barajas and Barcelona's El Prat. It is the third airport on the passenger list, i.e. Palma's Son Sant Joan, which also happens to be the fifteenth busiest airport in Europe.
This is the second year running that Palma has claimed the airport profitability crown, its operating profit for 2011 up fractionally to 44.68 million euros. Palma has been vying with Alicante for the top spot, the airport in the Valencia region having held the crown in 2009.
That Palma's main rival has been Alicante probably tells a story. Both are airports with high volumes of tourism traffic, serving some of the densest populations of tourism; Benidorm being one in the case of Alicante.
The profit tells only part of the story. In 2011 Palma airport turned over more than 200 million euros; a profit percentage of some 20% on revenue generated is healthy for any type of business. The revenue and the profit help to explain why the regional government has been so keen to get its hands on the airport and manage it at least in partnership.
The ambitions of Balearic politicians to be able to add the airport to the region's balance sheet and profit and loss account (mainly or in fact totally a loss of course) have been dashed for varying reasons. Firstly, it was because the airport, despite its traffic, didn't meet the level of passenger numbers to qualify it for regional government management. Secondly, and more recently, there has been the threat (or promise, if you prefer) of privatisation or partial privatisation.
It was this threat that brought about the air-traffic controllers' strike, the fallout from which is still going through the courts. But it is a threat that is more on the cards than before. National government has its eyes on privatisation as a means of helping to cut the national burden. Airports, such as Palma's, would be prime targets, one would have to believe.
Palma can manage to generate such healthy profit for a number of reasons. Its income, as with all airports, is derived through numerous revenue streams, and some - all probably - are from services and concessions that come at a high price. Without putting an actual figure on them, someone I know well who runs a car-hire agency (without an office in the airport) alluded the other day to the astronomical rents for these offices. And these are but one of the many revenue streams that filter through to making Palma airport such a profitable business.
Charges that the airport can make are not solely due to demand. There is also the fact that it occupies a vast area of prime real estate. As a consequence, it commands premium prices, and these are ones that are demanded of other concessions. Its value as real estate is a further reason why the government would wish to have a piece of the action. Assets are as valuable to a government as they are to a corporation.
This property value adds a further dimension to any privatisation. Through a combination of the land premium and the premium that Palma airport can demand of airlines by way of landing fees, the potential for any future movement (downwards) of these fees would be questionable. Yet this is exactly what airlines have been calling for, if the airport is to create greater traffic in the winter, which, by extension, would mean greater numbers of winter tourists.
It is perhaps instructive to appreciate that, despite the lower volume of winter traffic, Palma can still be the most profitable of Spain's airports. In purely business terms, being more amenable to airline demands wouldn't necessarily make sense, though one might think that additional revenue from other streams of business, also currently affected by lower winter traffic, would compensate for any discount on landing fees.
While Palma is the jewel in the crown of Spanish airports, the same cannot be said for other airports in the Balearics. Ibiza does reasonably well. It made a profit of almost 3.5 million euros, but it also operates with a debt. Not a huge one, but debt nevertheless. Palma, on the other hand, has no such worries. But then there is Menorca. It made a loss of getting on for eleven million last year. It has an accumulated debt of over 161 million euros.
This is perhaps an example of have and have not in Balearics tourism. Menorca has been suffering badly in all sorts of ways. And in these times of austerity and of government looking on drains on resources, the airport in Menorca might need to watch out. So also might Menorca.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
This is the second year running that Palma has claimed the airport profitability crown, its operating profit for 2011 up fractionally to 44.68 million euros. Palma has been vying with Alicante for the top spot, the airport in the Valencia region having held the crown in 2009.
That Palma's main rival has been Alicante probably tells a story. Both are airports with high volumes of tourism traffic, serving some of the densest populations of tourism; Benidorm being one in the case of Alicante.
The profit tells only part of the story. In 2011 Palma airport turned over more than 200 million euros; a profit percentage of some 20% on revenue generated is healthy for any type of business. The revenue and the profit help to explain why the regional government has been so keen to get its hands on the airport and manage it at least in partnership.
The ambitions of Balearic politicians to be able to add the airport to the region's balance sheet and profit and loss account (mainly or in fact totally a loss of course) have been dashed for varying reasons. Firstly, it was because the airport, despite its traffic, didn't meet the level of passenger numbers to qualify it for regional government management. Secondly, and more recently, there has been the threat (or promise, if you prefer) of privatisation or partial privatisation.
It was this threat that brought about the air-traffic controllers' strike, the fallout from which is still going through the courts. But it is a threat that is more on the cards than before. National government has its eyes on privatisation as a means of helping to cut the national burden. Airports, such as Palma's, would be prime targets, one would have to believe.
Palma can manage to generate such healthy profit for a number of reasons. Its income, as with all airports, is derived through numerous revenue streams, and some - all probably - are from services and concessions that come at a high price. Without putting an actual figure on them, someone I know well who runs a car-hire agency (without an office in the airport) alluded the other day to the astronomical rents for these offices. And these are but one of the many revenue streams that filter through to making Palma airport such a profitable business.
Charges that the airport can make are not solely due to demand. There is also the fact that it occupies a vast area of prime real estate. As a consequence, it commands premium prices, and these are ones that are demanded of other concessions. Its value as real estate is a further reason why the government would wish to have a piece of the action. Assets are as valuable to a government as they are to a corporation.
This property value adds a further dimension to any privatisation. Through a combination of the land premium and the premium that Palma airport can demand of airlines by way of landing fees, the potential for any future movement (downwards) of these fees would be questionable. Yet this is exactly what airlines have been calling for, if the airport is to create greater traffic in the winter, which, by extension, would mean greater numbers of winter tourists.
It is perhaps instructive to appreciate that, despite the lower volume of winter traffic, Palma can still be the most profitable of Spain's airports. In purely business terms, being more amenable to airline demands wouldn't necessarily make sense, though one might think that additional revenue from other streams of business, also currently affected by lower winter traffic, would compensate for any discount on landing fees.
While Palma is the jewel in the crown of Spanish airports, the same cannot be said for other airports in the Balearics. Ibiza does reasonably well. It made a profit of almost 3.5 million euros, but it also operates with a debt. Not a huge one, but debt nevertheless. Palma, on the other hand, has no such worries. But then there is Menorca. It made a loss of getting on for eleven million last year. It has an accumulated debt of over 161 million euros.
This is perhaps an example of have and have not in Balearics tourism. Menorca has been suffering badly in all sorts of ways. And in these times of austerity and of government looking on drains on resources, the airport in Menorca might need to watch out. So also might Menorca.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, April 09, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Airport tax will lose Palma quarter of a million tourists
The Exceltur organisation believes that airport taxes included in the Spanish national budget will result in a loss of over quarter of a million tourists coming into Palma airport. The calculation takes into account the effect on tour operators who will consider alternative major competitor tourism destinations where taxes are lower, such as Turkey.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Contingency plans at Palma airport for general strike
AENA, the national airports authority, has been making contingency plans to limit the impact of tomorrow's general strike on operations at and to and from Palma airport. Meanwhile, the Balearics Supreme Court is set to pronounce this morning on minimum service levels during the strike, having been petitioned by the main unions to calculate the suspension of services.
Update: The Supreme Court has rejected demands from the unions and gone along almost completely with the minimum services set out by the regional government. This will mean, for example, the operation of 160 coaches transferring tourists between the airport and hotels.
See more: Ultima Hora
Update: The Supreme Court has rejected demands from the unions and gone along almost completely with the minimum services set out by the regional government. This will mean, for example, the operation of 160 coaches transferring tourists between the airport and hotels.
See more: Ultima Hora
Thursday, March 17, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Air Berlin increases Palma traffic this summer
The German airline Air Berlin will increase the number of potential passengers coming into Palma airport this summer by over 160,000; 5.9 million in total.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - New multi-storey parking for Palma airport
The AENA airports authority has given the go-ahead for the building of a new car park at Palma airport. With an initial budget of 12.7 million euros, the new car park, for both long stay and hire cars, will have 2,173 spaces.
Friday, February 18, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Low cost taxis?
The lowcosttravel group has announced the arrival of low-cost taxis to Mallorca. Reservations will need to be made for taxis from Palma airport, and there are possibilities for different types of service. To see what this is all about, go to http://www.lowcosttaxis.com. What do you think of the prices? Don't seem that low cost to me.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Pieces Of Eight: Airports, airlines and taxes
A group of German MPs has been enjoying a late-season break in Mallorca. In between taking in the Peguera Oktoberfest and strolling along the proms with their lederhosen on, the MPs have been having a word or two in President Antich's shell-like. "We don't think much to the rise in your airport charges, Francesc, old boy."
I suspect that they expressed this rather differently, much as I also suspect that I have completely invented their trip to the Bierfest and their leather garments, but express concern as to the charges they most certainly did. Carriers estimate that increased tariffs for security, passengers and landing, planned for next year, could bump up prices by around 12%.
Klaus Brähmig, for it was he, gave the president something of a veiled threat. Put your prices up, and tourists, German ones that is, will decide to go somewhere else. Turkey, Greece and Malta. (Since when has Malta come into the German tourist competitive destination radar? Someone should warn the Maltese and put Alec Guinness on stand-by.)
If Antich was on the ball he might well have responded by pointing out that the Germans are establishing an eco-tax, as from the start of 2011. Eight euros a pop. Doesn't matter where you fly to in Europe. Eight euros it will be. He might also have pointed out that these charges aren't his. "Nothing to do with me, Klaus. You'll need to have a word with Mr. Bean in Madrid." Not such a bad suggestion as the Germans find Mr. Bean corset-burstingly hilarious, even, one imagines, a doppelgänger such as Herr Schumacher, i.e. President Zapatero.
Herr Brähmig had pre-empted the eco-tax riposte. German tourism in Mallorca will not be affected by the pieces of eight, he parroted. In other words, the German tax is ok, but the Spanish charges aren't. Of course, he may well be right about the German air tax. It is universal, so it affects every destination, be it Mallorca or Turkey. An issue for Spain and therefore Mallorca is what happens with charges elsewhere. Athens International Airport, for instance, froze its charges this year.
But do these taxes, be they tax to fly or airport charges, really have any great impact? The evidence from the UK would suggest that they don't, not where Mallorca is concerned at any rate; the air passenger duty is set to rise to twelve pounds next month. British travellers don't, though, have much alternative. German ones do. Lufthansa's Germanwings subsidiary, responding to the eight euro tax, has looked at moving flights from Cologne/Bonn to Maastricht, just over the Dutch border. The Dutch, having scrapped their own tax because it apparently did have an effect, might stand to benefit from a German airline's patronage. Air Berlin's director-general for Spain and Portugal, the former president of the Mallorca Tourism Board Álvaro Middelmann, has described the German tax as "totally absurd".
Nevertheless, unless you happen to live within easy reach of Maastricht, the eight euro tax is one you would be likely to accept. Why pay far more to get to an airport, so that you might just be able to save a euro or so overall? It wouldn't make much sense. The real issue with taxes and charges, where they are transparent to the traveller, lies with how much they are in proportion to the cost of the flight alone. The often excessive criticism of Ryanair is that they apply "hidden" charges. They don't. The additional fees, such as one for tax, seem high because the initial price is so low.
While not everything that emanates from Ryanair is always believable, everyone's favourite airline chief executive, Michael O'Leary, has spoken about changes to the airline's strategy. He has stated that the low-cost model is unsustainable. If Ryanair is paying serious attention to its pricing and product policy, and it is, then whither other low-cost airlines? Palma airport has a high dependence upon low-cost carriers. It is their pricing models which are important, not the taxes or charges. The challenge for Ryanair, which is likely to be one for other airlines, is to grow the business. And to do so requires generating higher yields from passengers. Which means higher prices.
Even if increased taxes and charges become lower as a proportion of the initial price, the overall price of the flight increases significantly. For Ryanair, Air Berlin, Germanwings and any other airline desperate to improve margins, any additional cost element imposed by governments is unwelcome. As they are unwelcome to politicians, when it's someone's else taxes rather than your own. Herr Brähmig does protest too much. He has a German airline industry unhappy at its own government's tax to keep onside, so he takes a broadside at Spanish air charges to try and show he is on the side of the German tourist and the German airline industry. It is a bit rich, and it also obscures the more important issue - that of future air prices.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
I suspect that they expressed this rather differently, much as I also suspect that I have completely invented their trip to the Bierfest and their leather garments, but express concern as to the charges they most certainly did. Carriers estimate that increased tariffs for security, passengers and landing, planned for next year, could bump up prices by around 12%.
Klaus Brähmig, for it was he, gave the president something of a veiled threat. Put your prices up, and tourists, German ones that is, will decide to go somewhere else. Turkey, Greece and Malta. (Since when has Malta come into the German tourist competitive destination radar? Someone should warn the Maltese and put Alec Guinness on stand-by.)
If Antich was on the ball he might well have responded by pointing out that the Germans are establishing an eco-tax, as from the start of 2011. Eight euros a pop. Doesn't matter where you fly to in Europe. Eight euros it will be. He might also have pointed out that these charges aren't his. "Nothing to do with me, Klaus. You'll need to have a word with Mr. Bean in Madrid." Not such a bad suggestion as the Germans find Mr. Bean corset-burstingly hilarious, even, one imagines, a doppelgänger such as Herr Schumacher, i.e. President Zapatero.
Herr Brähmig had pre-empted the eco-tax riposte. German tourism in Mallorca will not be affected by the pieces of eight, he parroted. In other words, the German tax is ok, but the Spanish charges aren't. Of course, he may well be right about the German air tax. It is universal, so it affects every destination, be it Mallorca or Turkey. An issue for Spain and therefore Mallorca is what happens with charges elsewhere. Athens International Airport, for instance, froze its charges this year.
But do these taxes, be they tax to fly or airport charges, really have any great impact? The evidence from the UK would suggest that they don't, not where Mallorca is concerned at any rate; the air passenger duty is set to rise to twelve pounds next month. British travellers don't, though, have much alternative. German ones do. Lufthansa's Germanwings subsidiary, responding to the eight euro tax, has looked at moving flights from Cologne/Bonn to Maastricht, just over the Dutch border. The Dutch, having scrapped their own tax because it apparently did have an effect, might stand to benefit from a German airline's patronage. Air Berlin's director-general for Spain and Portugal, the former president of the Mallorca Tourism Board Álvaro Middelmann, has described the German tax as "totally absurd".
Nevertheless, unless you happen to live within easy reach of Maastricht, the eight euro tax is one you would be likely to accept. Why pay far more to get to an airport, so that you might just be able to save a euro or so overall? It wouldn't make much sense. The real issue with taxes and charges, where they are transparent to the traveller, lies with how much they are in proportion to the cost of the flight alone. The often excessive criticism of Ryanair is that they apply "hidden" charges. They don't. The additional fees, such as one for tax, seem high because the initial price is so low.
While not everything that emanates from Ryanair is always believable, everyone's favourite airline chief executive, Michael O'Leary, has spoken about changes to the airline's strategy. He has stated that the low-cost model is unsustainable. If Ryanair is paying serious attention to its pricing and product policy, and it is, then whither other low-cost airlines? Palma airport has a high dependence upon low-cost carriers. It is their pricing models which are important, not the taxes or charges. The challenge for Ryanair, which is likely to be one for other airlines, is to grow the business. And to do so requires generating higher yields from passengers. Which means higher prices.
Even if increased taxes and charges become lower as a proportion of the initial price, the overall price of the flight increases significantly. For Ryanair, Air Berlin, Germanwings and any other airline desperate to improve margins, any additional cost element imposed by governments is unwelcome. As they are unwelcome to politicians, when it's someone's else taxes rather than your own. Herr Brähmig does protest too much. He has a German airline industry unhappy at its own government's tax to keep onside, so he takes a broadside at Spanish air charges to try and show he is on the side of the German tourist and the German airline industry. It is a bit rich, and it also obscures the more important issue - that of future air prices.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, January 25, 2010
I'm Anti, Fly Me - Tourism Priorities
Despite some predictions that 2010 might be worse than 2009, there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the coming season. The resident travel expert that "The Bulletin" short-hauls out on regular occasions - a chap from the combined Co-Op, Monarch and Cosmos group - referred the other day to factors previously mentioned here, such as issues in Turkey and increasing consumer confidence. As ever, or so it seems with the paper, there was some confusion. The article had a strap-line "Cosmos reports 43 per cent increase in Majorca holiday sales", yet nowhere in the article itself was this mentioned or was an explanation offered as to the time frame during which the increase had occurred. Maybe Cosmos has indeed experienced such an increase, but overall sales figures quoted for this year suggest a 15% reduction. Such a decline could clearly be used as evidence to support the argument that 2010 will be worse, but there are factors to take account of which might counter this - a bad summer in the UK last year and recent bad weather preventing trips to travel agencies, and, more positively, the improvement in the pound, that returning confidence and, in all likelihood, a later surge in holiday bookings.
There is a further reason for optimism - and this is that the regional government does appear to be galvanising itself. In the paper's editorial, Jason pointed to the fact that President Antich is to make tourism his top priority this year, rightly noting that he might surely have been doing this previously. Antich, in addition to announcing greater funding for tourism, has called on all government departments to get behind tourism and for it to be everyone's priority. Maybe the centimo has finally dropped. I have argued that the regional government should be restructured in such a way as to place tourism at its peak. Antich should, I believe, have grasped the nettle when Miquel Nadal was forced to resign and taken on the tourism brief himself. But if the president can persuade the rest of the political class that it, in effect, acts in support of the island's only strategic industry, then this has to be applauded - at last.
A question is, however, whether the rest of the political class will take any notice. There was a letter to "The Bulletin" a few days ago. It was questioning tourism minister Ferrer's ambitions for changes in the tourism sector, bracketing this with a reference to members of the coalition government who "have gone on record saying that they would prefer to see less (sic) foreigners here". I'm not sure who these members are, but it is the case that there have been some political voices raised against swelling tourist numbers, a sort of anti-tourism brigade that isn't. One of them belongs to Mother Munar, the matriarch of Ferrer's nationalist party, who once spoke out against an invasion of foreigners, but a member of government only in the sense that she is the speaker of parliament. (Incidentally, Mother applied her constitutional right the other day in keeping mum when she appeared before the beak investigating the corruption accusation against her.) There may well be some Little Mallorcans lurking who would prefer to turn the clock back or others who would rather Mallorca tourists were only those with bulging wallets, and these politicians may well reside in the ranks of the nationalists or parties to the left of Antich's PSOE, but there is one very important factor that none of them would wish to ignore. It is a factor which gives lie to what they may or may not allow their different ideologies to say about tourism numbers, and that is ... the airport.
Antich used the platform at the Fitur exhibition in Madrid to make not only his announcement about tourism priority but also to refer to the management of the airport by the regional government. This is, and has been, a major ambition of local politicians for some while. And why? Because it means money. And a pre-requisite for granting local management is passenger numbers. The more there are, the closer that management gets. And more passengers means more tourists. And more passengers, more tourists means more money for whatever body runs the airport because of landing and docking licences and all the rest. No politician, of whatever party, is going to thumb his nose at the potential moolah that will be forthcoming. The central government vice-president has been making positive noises about local management during a visit to Palma, which may or may not be simple politicking in support of fellow party member Antich as the regional elections approach. Presumably, Antich would see securing airport management in advance of these elections as a voting feather in his cap.
One can be cynical about the motives behind the renewed tourism drive. But airport management or no airport management, the declaration of tourism priority is an overdue statement of reality, if also an overdue statement of the bleeding obvious. In the absence of any other industry of real note, certainly given the parlous state of construction, then tourism it has to be. Now just get on with it.
QUIZ
Yesterday: The Thompson Twins, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oWfHN1rrGc.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
There is a further reason for optimism - and this is that the regional government does appear to be galvanising itself. In the paper's editorial, Jason pointed to the fact that President Antich is to make tourism his top priority this year, rightly noting that he might surely have been doing this previously. Antich, in addition to announcing greater funding for tourism, has called on all government departments to get behind tourism and for it to be everyone's priority. Maybe the centimo has finally dropped. I have argued that the regional government should be restructured in such a way as to place tourism at its peak. Antich should, I believe, have grasped the nettle when Miquel Nadal was forced to resign and taken on the tourism brief himself. But if the president can persuade the rest of the political class that it, in effect, acts in support of the island's only strategic industry, then this has to be applauded - at last.
A question is, however, whether the rest of the political class will take any notice. There was a letter to "The Bulletin" a few days ago. It was questioning tourism minister Ferrer's ambitions for changes in the tourism sector, bracketing this with a reference to members of the coalition government who "have gone on record saying that they would prefer to see less (sic) foreigners here". I'm not sure who these members are, but it is the case that there have been some political voices raised against swelling tourist numbers, a sort of anti-tourism brigade that isn't. One of them belongs to Mother Munar, the matriarch of Ferrer's nationalist party, who once spoke out against an invasion of foreigners, but a member of government only in the sense that she is the speaker of parliament. (Incidentally, Mother applied her constitutional right the other day in keeping mum when she appeared before the beak investigating the corruption accusation against her.) There may well be some Little Mallorcans lurking who would prefer to turn the clock back or others who would rather Mallorca tourists were only those with bulging wallets, and these politicians may well reside in the ranks of the nationalists or parties to the left of Antich's PSOE, but there is one very important factor that none of them would wish to ignore. It is a factor which gives lie to what they may or may not allow their different ideologies to say about tourism numbers, and that is ... the airport.
Antich used the platform at the Fitur exhibition in Madrid to make not only his announcement about tourism priority but also to refer to the management of the airport by the regional government. This is, and has been, a major ambition of local politicians for some while. And why? Because it means money. And a pre-requisite for granting local management is passenger numbers. The more there are, the closer that management gets. And more passengers means more tourists. And more passengers, more tourists means more money for whatever body runs the airport because of landing and docking licences and all the rest. No politician, of whatever party, is going to thumb his nose at the potential moolah that will be forthcoming. The central government vice-president has been making positive noises about local management during a visit to Palma, which may or may not be simple politicking in support of fellow party member Antich as the regional elections approach. Presumably, Antich would see securing airport management in advance of these elections as a voting feather in his cap.
One can be cynical about the motives behind the renewed tourism drive. But airport management or no airport management, the declaration of tourism priority is an overdue statement of reality, if also an overdue statement of the bleeding obvious. In the absence of any other industry of real note, certainly given the parlous state of construction, then tourism it has to be. Now just get on with it.
QUIZ
Yesterday: The Thompson Twins, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oWfHN1rrGc.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Disaster
Someone once told me that the authorities couldn't really care less what sort of holidaymakers turn up in Mallorca, so long as they turn up and turn up in great numbers; numbers sufficient to justify the investment that has been put into the development of Palma airport, and numbers which would increase that much more - and no self-interest involved here of course - so that the local government would be able to take a piece of the pie in managing the airport. But that would be some way off. Especially if the numbers decline. And falling numbers are really not what anyone had in mind. The only problem is that the number did fall - in 2008.
The movement of people though the airport is, in some ways, one of the better ways of gauging tourism activity. Not totally of course. There are enough ranges of lard mountain being herded through Son Sant Joan en route to their all-inclusive troughs to skew any meaningful notion as to numbers and indeed types of holidaymaker. But as, for the most part, the tourist arrives by air, you do get a reasonable handle on things, always assuming that there hasn't been some - how to put it - massaging of the figures. And there doesn't appear to have been, not for 2008 at any rate; there was a decline just short of 400,000. That said, of the three main tourist markets (mainland Spain, Germany and the UK), the largest fall was among the Spanish, the UK showed a fall of some 100,000, but the Germans increased slightly.
Insofar as 2008 performance can mean anything when projecting for this season, the airport numbers do seem to tally with other reports from last year, especially in respect of the slump in Spanish tourism. The good news for the north of the island is that this market is of little consequence. Anyway, despite the call by the tourism minister for some positive spin, the message doesn't seem to have found its way to one commentator in "Ultima Hora" who says that it will require a "titanic effort to avoid a disaster this year". Ah yes, that word again. Disaster. The minister said we media sorts shouldn't use it, but up it pops - regular as ... well as regular as "desastre", because anything or everything here can be a "desastre". The beach near to me is at present, according to my ancient Mallorcan neighbours, "un desastre"; the reason being that it's full of natural rubbish. One of the flats that the ancients rent out was also once "un desastre" after three TUI reps had been in it for a season. The word is actually used so much that it does rather lose its meaning.
We are told that 2009 is likely to be on a par with 2006. Now, I don't really recall the ins and outs of that particular year, but I don't remember it being "un desastre". Indeed, although 2007 was meant to have been a record year, there were those who would maintain that 2006 was better. So, quite where this gets us I've no idea. Nowhere in all likelihood. But if 2007 was indeed a record year, then is there not some consolation in accepting that not every year can be a record year, and that if there is a bit more of a decline in the numbers of Brits exiting the Luton EasyJet it doesn't actually equate to "un desastre"? There is a slight drawback in this argument in that 2008 was meant to have been a record year as well, which was probably bollocks and the lower numbers coming through the airport would tend to to support that. But we have the word of the bloke at TUI, i.e. its chief executive, who says that people will still take their foreign holiday; the thing that will prevent them is not recession, but unemployment. To that end, let's just hope people keep their jobs. Or ... desastre.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Dandy Warhols (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuFtfhOipNQ). Today's title - ok, you'll be doing well with this, but it comes from a wonderful Canadian indie group who did get the odd mention here in 2007. They take their name from some water in Saskatchewan.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The movement of people though the airport is, in some ways, one of the better ways of gauging tourism activity. Not totally of course. There are enough ranges of lard mountain being herded through Son Sant Joan en route to their all-inclusive troughs to skew any meaningful notion as to numbers and indeed types of holidaymaker. But as, for the most part, the tourist arrives by air, you do get a reasonable handle on things, always assuming that there hasn't been some - how to put it - massaging of the figures. And there doesn't appear to have been, not for 2008 at any rate; there was a decline just short of 400,000. That said, of the three main tourist markets (mainland Spain, Germany and the UK), the largest fall was among the Spanish, the UK showed a fall of some 100,000, but the Germans increased slightly.
Insofar as 2008 performance can mean anything when projecting for this season, the airport numbers do seem to tally with other reports from last year, especially in respect of the slump in Spanish tourism. The good news for the north of the island is that this market is of little consequence. Anyway, despite the call by the tourism minister for some positive spin, the message doesn't seem to have found its way to one commentator in "Ultima Hora" who says that it will require a "titanic effort to avoid a disaster this year". Ah yes, that word again. Disaster. The minister said we media sorts shouldn't use it, but up it pops - regular as ... well as regular as "desastre", because anything or everything here can be a "desastre". The beach near to me is at present, according to my ancient Mallorcan neighbours, "un desastre"; the reason being that it's full of natural rubbish. One of the flats that the ancients rent out was also once "un desastre" after three TUI reps had been in it for a season. The word is actually used so much that it does rather lose its meaning.
We are told that 2009 is likely to be on a par with 2006. Now, I don't really recall the ins and outs of that particular year, but I don't remember it being "un desastre". Indeed, although 2007 was meant to have been a record year, there were those who would maintain that 2006 was better. So, quite where this gets us I've no idea. Nowhere in all likelihood. But if 2007 was indeed a record year, then is there not some consolation in accepting that not every year can be a record year, and that if there is a bit more of a decline in the numbers of Brits exiting the Luton EasyJet it doesn't actually equate to "un desastre"? There is a slight drawback in this argument in that 2008 was meant to have been a record year as well, which was probably bollocks and the lower numbers coming through the airport would tend to to support that. But we have the word of the bloke at TUI, i.e. its chief executive, who says that people will still take their foreign holiday; the thing that will prevent them is not recession, but unemployment. To that end, let's just hope people keep their jobs. Or ... desastre.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Dandy Warhols (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuFtfhOipNQ). Today's title - ok, you'll be doing well with this, but it comes from a wonderful Canadian indie group who did get the odd mention here in 2007. They take their name from some water in Saskatchewan.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, July 21, 2008
Summertime Blues
First viewing in weeks. An estate agent admitted to me the other day that this was the case. Want to know in how much of a trough the local property market is? Go ask a few estate agents. Don't ask those who deal at the luxury end (even if some of these are feeling the pinch when it comes to British purchasers faced with a poor exchange rate). Talk to those at the middle and low end. All those estate agencies that have closed, and nothing by way of an improvement in the market; it just gets worse it seems. Another agent told me of an apartment for sale in Puerto Alcúdia. Pretty good place, but a seriously overstretched owner who had hoped the summer rentals would suffice in order to pay the hefty mortgage, the sort of mortgage it would be hard to conjure up just at present. You can't even rely on the holiday let to bail you out. The Taylor Woodrow development in Puerto Pollensa, the one from the company with the "We Build in Spain since 1958" line; these apartments would once have all been snapped up off-plan. They haven't been. In Playa de Muro there is a development of detached houses - "in an extraordinary setting, clean beach and natural surroundings make this a veritable 7km paradise within your reach". This comes from the catalogue thing that was shoved under windscreen wipers at the weekend. It follows the appearance of several street posters pointing the potential customer in the direction. It's a building site. They want, sorry need, off-plan sales. The spate of publicity suggests a worry, perhaps more. Sell off-plan and the deposit and the virtual guarantee of a sale will help to secure further lines of credit from the bank. That would be the hope. There is another aspect to the property development uncertainty. It is the inordinately long time that it can take to actually finish the building. Given restrictions on construction work in tourist areas during the season, the time-scale between starting, beginning to sell off-plan, receiving deposits to final completion can be extremely lengthy. It only takes an economic crisis to invade that time-scale for the walls to come tumbling down. And this is what has been happening.
Martinsa-Fadesa, one of Spain's largest property developers, has collapsed. "The Sunday Times" carried this story yesterday, angling it from the point of view of the Brit purchaser who stands to lose a shedload. The paper mentions also an unfinished development on the Costa Blanca. There are probably many more. The problem now is that if a deposit is put down, it may never be recouped and the property may never be built. Martinsa-Fadesa has been hit by the double whammy of too much borrowing and therefore too much debt and a fall of up to 60% in Spanish developer sales.
Picking up on the reference to Spanair on 19 July (the airline is planning the axeing of a third of jobs), there is now also the news - carried by "The Bulletin" over a couple of days - that Ryanair is pulling its Palma service for a period this winter (from 4 November till 19 December). The company cites the cost of fuel and the costs of operating at Palma, this latter point being challenged by AENA, which runs Palma airport. Whatever the situation, Ryanair's decision hardly warms the already chilly winter scene. Winter flights they may be, but at present there ain't no cure for the summertime blues, though at the end of the month Balearics leader Francesc Antich is due to unveil a package of measures to assist the freezing local economy. I'm not sure we should be holding our breath.
Sorry, it's not great news today. I'll try and be more cheery tomorrow.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Beatles, "A Day In The Life" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZez_k4vAzU). Today's title - who? Died at 21.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Martinsa-Fadesa, one of Spain's largest property developers, has collapsed. "The Sunday Times" carried this story yesterday, angling it from the point of view of the Brit purchaser who stands to lose a shedload. The paper mentions also an unfinished development on the Costa Blanca. There are probably many more. The problem now is that if a deposit is put down, it may never be recouped and the property may never be built. Martinsa-Fadesa has been hit by the double whammy of too much borrowing and therefore too much debt and a fall of up to 60% in Spanish developer sales.
Picking up on the reference to Spanair on 19 July (the airline is planning the axeing of a third of jobs), there is now also the news - carried by "The Bulletin" over a couple of days - that Ryanair is pulling its Palma service for a period this winter (from 4 November till 19 December). The company cites the cost of fuel and the costs of operating at Palma, this latter point being challenged by AENA, which runs Palma airport. Whatever the situation, Ryanair's decision hardly warms the already chilly winter scene. Winter flights they may be, but at present there ain't no cure for the summertime blues, though at the end of the month Balearics leader Francesc Antich is due to unveil a package of measures to assist the freezing local economy. I'm not sure we should be holding our breath.
Sorry, it's not great news today. I'll try and be more cheery tomorrow.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Beatles, "A Day In The Life" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZez_k4vAzU). Today's title - who? Died at 21.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Taxi!
Public transport. Better public transport is needed for tourists travelling in the Alcúdia-Pollensa area; that, at any rate, is the desire of hotel chiefs in the north, according to “Euro Weekly”. This would also, so these same hotel chiefs believe, attract more visitors to the north. Really? How many more visitors would come to, say, Playa de Muro on top of those who represented 100% hotel occupancy for a time during the past summer? Is public transport, or the lack thereof, a deal-maker or deal-breaker when it comes to deciding on a holiday? I doubt it somewhat. More likely is the expectation that there will be buses but there will also be a squeeze, in which case no one is going to be too upset as the expectation will be met.
Better or more public transport will make little difference to the numbers of visitors, but there may well be a case for saying that it could help those visitors to move around more. I say could because for a fair proportion it probably wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference; indeed there is a fair argument for saying that some of the larded obese to be found waddling around in summer would benefit from the absence of any form of transport except a push-bike. But be that as it may.
Where do people go though? On a typical hot summer’s day in Puerto Alcúdia for instance, people are going nowhere except to the beach, and even for those in the more far-flung all-inclusives or Bellevue the walk is not exactly onerous, and if you want, you can get a boat much of the way from Bellevue in any case. The only days when there is any change to this pattern is on market days when, yes, there is a good argument for there being more buses. Otherwise, the greatest demand is in the evenings, and here there is a need, especially later on. Want a bus after 11 o’clock from the port? Forget it. Want a taxi? Try finding one. There are only so many taxis, which is why, on market days, Alcúdia Taxis have to call in the cavalry from Playa de Muro to assist (the Playa de Muro taxi drivers are not meant to pick up outside of their own territory).
The projected extension to the train line as far as Alcúdia and the proposed trams going from the terminus may be of benefit, but the one really useful addition to the public transport network would be a good train service to the airport. So useful that it will probably never be done.
And on the airport, also in “EW”, it is now the twelfth busiest in Europe. 22 million people used the airport last year, the paper says. That’s last year as in 2007. Hmm, whatever. Being at number 12 in the charts may not sound like much to brag about, but if you consider that Palma does not handle transatlantic and long-haul traffic, then it is fairly astonishing.
QUIZ
Yesterday – Sly And The Family Stone. Today’s title – remember the American comedy series? Who wrote the theme tune? And what is the connection between Taxi and the blog entry for 13 December, “Girls On Film”?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Better or more public transport will make little difference to the numbers of visitors, but there may well be a case for saying that it could help those visitors to move around more. I say could because for a fair proportion it probably wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference; indeed there is a fair argument for saying that some of the larded obese to be found waddling around in summer would benefit from the absence of any form of transport except a push-bike. But be that as it may.
Where do people go though? On a typical hot summer’s day in Puerto Alcúdia for instance, people are going nowhere except to the beach, and even for those in the more far-flung all-inclusives or Bellevue the walk is not exactly onerous, and if you want, you can get a boat much of the way from Bellevue in any case. The only days when there is any change to this pattern is on market days when, yes, there is a good argument for there being more buses. Otherwise, the greatest demand is in the evenings, and here there is a need, especially later on. Want a bus after 11 o’clock from the port? Forget it. Want a taxi? Try finding one. There are only so many taxis, which is why, on market days, Alcúdia Taxis have to call in the cavalry from Playa de Muro to assist (the Playa de Muro taxi drivers are not meant to pick up outside of their own territory).
The projected extension to the train line as far as Alcúdia and the proposed trams going from the terminus may be of benefit, but the one really useful addition to the public transport network would be a good train service to the airport. So useful that it will probably never be done.
And on the airport, also in “EW”, it is now the twelfth busiest in Europe. 22 million people used the airport last year, the paper says. That’s last year as in 2007. Hmm, whatever. Being at number 12 in the charts may not sound like much to brag about, but if you consider that Palma does not handle transatlantic and long-haul traffic, then it is fairly astonishing.
QUIZ
Yesterday – Sly And The Family Stone. Today’s title – remember the American comedy series? Who wrote the theme tune? And what is the connection between Taxi and the blog entry for 13 December, “Girls On Film”?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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