By Humphrey Carter

Copyright majorcadailybulletin

Despite Ryanair having announced that is grounded over a million winter flights seats to Spain and is threatening to reduce summer capacity if Spanish airport authority Aena pushes ahead with increasing its airport operating fees, there will be no shortage of flights to Spain and the Balearics this winter or next year.

Airlines such as Vueling, Iberia Express, and Binter have already added 434,000 additional seats compared to last autumn and winter while other airlines, such as Volotea and Wizz Air, have also expressed their intention to fill part of the gaps. The Airline Association (ALA) has already slammed the 6.5% increase in airport fees set by Spanish airport authority Aena for the 2026 financial year, and has called for the next Airport Regulation Document (DORA III), which will regulate the period 2027-2031, to include new regulatory limitations that will allow a return to a path of tariff reductions similar to that of the last decade.

Ryanair, which accuses Aena of monopoly, announced this month a cut of one million seats in Spain for the winter season. This reduction in seat availability will mean the loss of more than one million seats, which, added to the 800,000 that Ryanair has eliminated in the summer season, brings the total cut to 2 million for 2025 as a whole. This figure could be higher if the cut being considered for flights to Spain next summer goes ahead.

But Vueling Airlines, for example, plans to connect the Balearics and mainland Spain this winter with more than 2 million seats, representing a 2% increase on last year’s availability. The addition of an extra aircraft in Ibiza during the winter will enable flights to Barcelona to be offered at the beginning and end of the day.

In a statement the IAG group company added that it will add an aircraft based in Palma during the winter season and will offer more than 1.4 million seats from that airport, 8% more than in 2024.
The company will also add connections from Palma to key domestic and international routes, such as the connection to Lisbon during the winter, with three weekly flights, and the route to Santander, which will have two flights during the same period.

It will also add two additional flights from the Balearic capital to Bilbao and Seville, which will have 13 and 12 weekly flights in winter, respectively. Vueling is planning 8% more seats in Palma for the winter season compared to the previous season. The airline is reinforcing the routes connecting Mallorca with Granada, Paris-Orly, Oviedo, Valencia and Zaragoza with an additional weekly frequency and is maintaining connections with Alicante, Barcelona and Jerez.