Palma still favourite holiday destination for Germans; traffic down 4% in first half of 2009

Palma de Mallorca is by far the most popular tourist destination for Germans. In the peak period over one million passengers per month travel between German airports and Palma.

For many years the most popular international route from German airports has been Palma de Mallorca in Spain. According to Destatis figures over 7.6 million passengers travelled between the Spanish airport and Germany in 2008. The next busiest international routes from Germany are Antalya (4.7 million), Vienna (4.2 million), London Heathrow (4.1 million) and Paris CDG (4.0 million). Germany’s second largest airline, airberlin, operates a major ‘virtual’ hub at the airport.

Source: Destatis

Passenger numbers have levelled off during the last three years at around 7.6 million. Not surprisingly the route is highly seasonal though services are operated year-round. During the peak summer period over one million passengers per month shuttle between Palma and Germany.

Source: Destatis

Who else? Air Berlin has dedicated facilities at PMI.

In the first half of 2009 traffic between Germany and Palma was down just over 4% with only April showing a year-on-year increase thanks to the re-timing of Easter. However, in June traffic was down less than 1% versus 2008. Twelve German airports generated over a quarter of a million passengers to Palma de Mallorca in 2008 with Dűsseldorf leading the way with over 900,000.

Source: Destatis

Apart from airberlin other airlines providing scheduled services between Germany and Palma during the peak summer season include Condor, easyJet (from Berlin Schőnefeld), Germanwings, Hamburg International, Lufthansa, Ryanair and TUIfly.com

June 2009; ACI EUROPE Awards, Manchester Town Hall: Palma de Mallorca takes Best Airport specifically for assisting in the development of a unique airline hub in partnership with Air Berlin. It is presented here by David McMillan, DG EUROCONTROL to Nemesio Suarez, managing director, Palma de Mallorca and Ignacio Biosca, AENA’s manager international relations and airport marketing.