Hundreds protest in Majorca against airport expansion and mass tourism, demanding private jet ban
Why It MattersAirport capacity growth across Spanish tourist hubs is increasingly contested locally, meaning expansion approvals may face sustained political and community resistance rather than smooth execution.
What happened
Hundreds of protesters marched through Palma, the capital of Majorca, on Sunday 20 September, demanding a reduction in flight numbers and a cap on tourist arrivals. Demonstrators carried banners reading "No more expansion, no more promotion" and marched from the Spanish Government Delegation to the Balearic Government's headquarters.
The demonstration targeted Spain's newly approved €13 billion airport expansion programme, which allocates €621 million to Palma's Son Sant Joan airport and nearby facilities, along with a 20-hectare solar farm in Marratxi, five miles from the capital, intended to power airport infrastructure. Pere Joan Femenia, spokesperson for the Platform Against the Expansion of Palma Airport, called the project's approval "opaque" and warned authorities were attempting to normalise "an outrageous rate of 66 flights per hour." He called for a ban on private jets, a co-management law giving the Balearic Islands direct control over airport operations, measures to cap visitor numbers, and an end to late-night flights, saying: "It's unacceptable that planes are still flying over our homes after midnight."
Residents accused local authorities of hypocrisy for promoting new long-haul routes to non-Schengen destinations including Canada and Abu Dhabi while claiming to want to curb tourism. Femenia noted that a previous expansion project opposed by protesters in 2019 ultimately brought four million additional passengers to Majorca. In Ibiza, protesters rallied in s'Alamera against a €229 million expansion of Es Codolar Airport that would double the number of boarding gates and raise passenger capacity to nearly 10 million; environmental tests have found sewage pollution near the airfield at 12 times the legal limit, raising concerns for flamingo nesting grounds in the Ses Salines Natural Park. In Barcelona, thousands joined demonstrations organised by the Zeroport movement against a €1.7 billion expansion of El Prat airport aiming to raise annual passenger traffic to 80 million, directing their anger at airport operator Aena and Spain's Ministry of Transport.
Industry impact & what to watch
This is part of a broader pattern across Spain's tourist-dependent islands, where airport capacity growth, once treated as a routine infrastructure upgrade, now draws coordinated street opposition across multiple cities on the same weekend. Palma, Ibiza and Barcelona each face separate expansion plans, yet protesters in all three linked the projects to the same underlying grievance: rising passenger volumes outpacing local tolerance for traffic, noise and environmental strain.
Airport expansion in this segment typically proceeds through national approval processes managed by operators such as Aena, with funding and capacity targets set well ahead of the construction that follows. Femenia's reference to the 2019 Majorca project, which brought four million additional passengers despite opposition, suggests that public objection has not historically altered outcomes once a plan is approved. The private-jet ban demanded in Palma and the co-management law sought by the Balearic Islands would, if adopted, represent a structural shift in who controls airport operations rather than a cosmetic concession.
What happens next depends on how the Balearic and Catalan governments respond to demands that fall outside their existing authority over airports, which currently rests with national bodies. The sewage pollution findings near Es Codolar, at 12 times the legal limit, give Ibiza's opposition a distinct regulatory hook that Palma and Barcelona's protests lack, and any formal environmental findings there would be worth tracking separately from the broader anti-expansion campaign.
