During the twelve months of 2011, a total of 22,726,459 passengers passed through PMI airport. That’s 11,363,230 real people, coming or going, a strong 7.6 % above the numbers for 2010. That’s near enough the highest number of passengers this airport has ever handled in any one year, and that’s with the chips down. Perhaps it is all related to holiday making in North Africa being diverted elsewhere; what do you think?

In January, however, passenger numbers amounted to 614,434 in Palma, or 10.1 % less than a year ago. This decrease might be accountable to fewer flights on offer than there were twelve months ago, or to the demise of Spanair who ceased operations on January 27th.

Overall, the statistics suggest a picture whereby the total number of passengers are steady on a high to very high level for most of the season, whereas the figures during November, December, January and probably February are getting smaller by the year, due to airlines cutting back their flight frequency during the winter month and thus, flight tickets becoming more expensive. The days of the cheap ticket bonanza seem to be over, perhaps irretrievably.

The photo was taken near Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: February 16th, 2012. The time was 17:43:15.