The Government of Pedro Sánchez gives the green light to the new accesses and expansion of the parking lot at the Son Sant Joan airport in Palma, the third largest aerodrome in Spain (after Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat) that received more than 30 million travelers for the first time in 2023, just when the remodeling works began, which, at this time, are still underway.
Specifically, the Directorate of Airports and Civil Aviation Security of the State Aviation Safety Agency, has given the go-ahead to AENA to continue processing the project for new accesses, roads and parking.
The resolution published in the BOE of the director of this organization, David Nieto Sepúlveda, accredits the conformity of the road, access and parking project, and its environmental adequacy. This is one more step in the processing of the most ambitious remodeling of the Mallorcan airport to date, with a total investment of 550 million euros.
The works that started in the winter of 2023 will last three seasons and, in addition to reconfiguring the existing space, includes a reorganization of the vehicle accesses to the airport, as well as the parking lots, in order to gain fluidity in vehicle traffic.
There will also be more boarding gates, more baggage claim belts and more check-in counters, which will increase the fluidity of their operation. It is expected that around the months of December and January, the new (seventh) floor of the parking building will come into operation, which has been built on the roof under a set of pergolas that will serve as support for photovoltaic panels that have already been installed.
Another novelty of the interior redesign project of the aerodrome is a direct connection walkway between the terminal building and the public parking, to eliminate the flow of people crossing the main arrivals road.
It is also contemplated to build up to 77% more buildings inside the airport complex, including the possible tourist use of it in the form of a hotel, increasing the airport from having a current maximum capacity for 34 million passengers to 50 progressively. , something that environmental groups denounced at the time.
The execution of the airport remodeling works and the environmental endorsement of the project occurs in full debate on tourism sustainability of the Balearic Islands promoted by the Government that includes the short-term adoption of measures to put a ceiling on the main and only Balearic industry.
In fact, last June, on the occasion ofl First Tourism Congress of Civil Society in Palmainaugurated by the president Marga Prohens and which included representatives of unions, employers, institutions and environmental entities, in the final document of resolutions reference was made up to six times to the Palmas aerodrome.
In this sense, the final proposal born from this forum opted for “a better regulation of tourist entry and exit flows in ports and airports, using measures compatible with their state competence.
Therefore, the participants proposedadoption of “measures with rapid implementation and results such as opening and closing time limitations, and other more complex ones to implement such as the application of the tourist saturation index. And for this reason they urged the competent authorities to «make clear a position against any enlargement or reorganization of uses that is intended to increase its carrying capacity.
Therefore, another of the conclusions of this forum that will be taken into account in the so-called Table for sustainability is that of «review the port and airport expansion and remodeling projectsadapting them to the carrying capacity of the island, on the one hand, and to the 2030 environmental objectives.
