Palma Son Sant Joan: Airport canteen remains closed — 15,000 employees on hold

Canteen at Palma airport still closed: who will pay for the break?

At the conveyor belt you hear the same murmurs as always: suitcases, announcements, coffee cups. Only the lunchtime noises are missing. The staff canteen at Palma (Son Sant Joan) airport remains closed, as detailed in Aeropuerto de Palma: más de ocho meses sin cantina – empleados afectados. No quick meals for shift workers, no discounted menus for ground staff and security personnel. The reason is less a mood swing than hard accounting: the previous operator allegedly left debts — and apparently no one dares take on the bill.

The raw numbers and the question that remains

In the background sums are whispered: over €400,000 are said to be outstanding, as reported in La cantina del aeropuerto de Palma no abre: grandes deudas heredadas asustan a los licitantes. For a canteen operation that serves hundreds of meals daily, that is a burden that deters many investors. AENA put the operating license up for re-tender symbolically for zero euros. Still no operator came forward. The central question therefore is: should an infrastructure operator like AENA be held more responsible when the basic provision for more than 15,000 employees is at stake?

Practical consequences for people on site

You can see the consequences immediately in the shift plans: baggage handlers who start at the belt at 6 a.m. unpack thermos containers, taxi drivers buy one expensive coffee after another, cleaning teams reschedule their breaks. A baggage handler who has worked there for years sums it up soberly: a meal used to cost four or five euros. Today, a missing canteen means getting up early and cooking in advance, or more expensive food in the terminal. That particularly hits low-wage employees. And it affects quickly — the short distance behind the security fences makes a spontaneous bocadillo outside the premises impractical to impossible.

What is often missing from the public debate

The discussion usually stays at the level: "debts" versus "tender". Two details fall out of view: first the structural dependence — airports are no place for failed experiments in supply security. Second the knock-on effect for suppliers and local bistros that rely on the turnover from these employees. The loss of a canteen is not a mere comfort issue. It affects the working life of hundreds and the small economies around the airport site.

What could a solution look like?

Just complaining does not help. In the short term pragmatic steps would be possible: temporary catering services, mobile food trucks on the premises, or an interim arrangement with meal vouchers for existing terminal bistros. In the medium term serious options are needed: restructuring the old operator's debts paired with secured transitional financing by AENA or the island administration. Also conceivable is a smaller operator with limited start capital, backed by development loans or a guarantee — alternatively a cooperative model in which employees and local restaurateurs take over the offer.

Transparency regarding the numbers is also important. Without a clear business plan and open accounting, bids remain hesitant. Investors want to know what risk they are taking. And the staff need concepts that do not only last until the end of the season.

Who could apply pressure — and how fast?

Unions, employee representatives and also municipal authorities could jointly build pressure. A graduated plan with immediate aid and a medium- to long-term strategy would be realistic. Monumental politics are not necessary — but quick, cooperative solutions are. Otherwise lunch breaks will remain sacrificed longer than is healthy for everyday life at the airport.

If you stand on the apron in the morning, hear the engines start and smell petrol and espresso mixed together, you realize: the canteen is more than a place to eat. It is a small social hub. And when it is missing, the whole island feels it — quietly, but steadily.