On Saturday, Palma Airport will be closed to commercial flights for 90 minutes because of the Spanish Air Force's planned air show. This is to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Son Sant Joan Air Base.
There will be no flights from 11.30am to 1pm, the airports authority explaining that operations for this period were scheduled in advance in order to prevent flights coinciding with the air show. Aena says no flights have had to be altered. At this time of the year there are normally around 60 flights for this period on a Saturday.
The air show is due to include manoeuvres by a number of fighter jets, including an F-18 Hornet that conducted a test flight on Thursday. This did cause delays to flights to and from Palma. A passenger on a flight from Barcelona said there was a delay of almost two hours. The captain informed passengers that the flight had to wait for the fighter jet to clear the airspace; it had priority.
Saturday's weather may yet affect plans for the air show. The air force, the Balearic Government's emergencies department and the Aemet met agency are in constant communication in assessing conditions on Saturday. There are yellow alerts for rain, thunderstorms and wind for the Palma area at the time of the air show; the alerts for rain are amber in the Tramuntana and the north. Cancellation of the air show is not being ruled out.