Palma de Mallorca Airport

In 1958, the authors of the 1958 National Airport Plan proposed the construction of a large civilian airport near the Son Sant Joan airbase, with the plan being approved the following year. This was the inception of Palma de Mallorca Airport. A terminal and a civilian apron were built south of the military facilities that year, along with a VHF communication center. Then on July 7, 1960, the airport was opened for both domestic and international travelers. Only two weeks later, urgent airport expansion was declared by the government, and during the summer of 1961 the start of runway and taxiway extensions began. More improvements were made toward the end of the year, including a power plant, a communications center, and fire and rescue facilities. A new terminal was built in 1965, and at the end of the following year, air navigation services were finished. Construction of a second runway, parallel to the existing one began in 1970, and two years later, terminal B was fully operational, with the second runway (06L/24R) opening in 1974. Increased passenger traffic during the 1980s led to the construction of yet another new terminal building, which is the current central terminal building. Construction began in 1993 and wasn't finished until 1997. In November 2015, Air Berlin announced that it would shut down its hub operations at the facility. All seven domestic connection routes to the mainland, such as flights to Valencia and Sevilla, ended during the spring of 2016. 

 

LEPA is located approximately 5 miles east of Palma, Mallorca, Spain, adjacent to the village of Can Pastilla. 

● Palma de Mallorca Airport takes up an area of 6.3 km2 (2.4 square miles). 

● In 2020, the airport handled 6.1 million passengers (after 29.7 million in pre COVID-19 conditions in 2019), making it Spain's third busiest airport, following behind Madrid–Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat. 

● During the summer, the airport's dual runways allow it to handle as many movements as London–Gatwick. On the busiest day of the week, it handles as many as 1,100 movements, almost as many as London–Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport.