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Spanair collapse leaves Mallorca with 20 percent fewer flights
Spanair, Spain’s fourth largest airline, has collapsed leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded across Europe and Africa. On Monday the Barcelona based company filed for voluntary bankruptcy, having halted operations and cancelled 200 flights three days beforehand.
Spanair focused predominantly on domestic flights in Spain, competing against Easyjet and Ryanair on medium haul routes to other European destinations and North Africa. They were responsible for one fifth of flights to Palma de Mallorca, flying over 1 million visitors to and from Son Sant Joan airport. So far Vueling, Iberia and Ryanair are reported to be interested in increasing their flights to the island during summer 2012.
In 2010 the airline reported an operating loss of 115m euros. The collapse comes after Qatar Airways pulled out of takeover talks and the regional government of Catalonia refused to provide more funding. The government's subsidies had been brought into question by Easyjet and Ryanair, who raised the matter with the European Commission.
The Spanish government is said to be taking legal action over the collapse. Spanair could face fines of 9m euros.
