Weeze is booming – what Mallorca can now expect from the small Rhineland airport

A small airport makes a big noise — also for Majorca

When church bells ring in Palma and the scent of freshly brewed café con leche drifts over the Plaça de Cort, guests from the Rhineland are already on their way. Weeze Airport reports a noticeable increase for the 2025/26 winter season: around 4,300 takeoffs and landings between the end of October and the end of March and about 354,000 departing passengers. For Majorca this means: more winter connections, more direct flights, more people arriving in the low season — mostly heading to Palma, but also visiting beaches, villages and mountains.

The obvious benefits — and why they don't only bring sunshine

At first glance this is welcome news. In January the streets in Sóller are quieter, the cafés on the Passeig less crowded, yet a few additional flights from Weeze mean small hotels reopen, fishermen in Port de Sóller serve guests in the evenings and market traders at Mercat de l’Olivar sell a bit more. The island benefits from not relying solely on high summer — extending the season means income, jobs and planning security for many businesses.

But: more flights are not an unalloyed success story. The increase at Weeze happens on a relatively small scale: 28 regular destinations, a large share via Ryanair. For Majorca this implies a focus on direct connections to Palma — practical for short breaks, problematic for an even distribution of visitors across the island. And every landing brings CO2, traffic and logistical consequences.

The quiet side of the boom — which questions are heard too little

The central question is therefore: how sustainable is this growth — for residents in both regions and for Majorca’s environment? On Majorca it is often the darker corners of winter where you feel the consequences first: waste disposal in tourist hotspots, extra pressure on hiking trails in the Tramuntana or more traffic around Playa de Palma if guests choose rental cars to stay flexible.

At the same time, on the German side there is frustration about traffic jams at the terminal access road, full parking lots and the strain on small villages along the approach roads. A small airport does not have the large infrastructure buffers of major hubs — this makes growth vulnerable to bottlenecks, waiting times and limited winter service capacities.

Concrete opportunities and solutions — relaxed, local, pragmatic

So what to do? A few concrete, factual proposals that could help both Weeze and Majorca:

1. Better coordination of transfers: Create incentives for public transport or shared shuttle offers at the time of booking to Majorca, for example fixed bus-train packages from Palma Airport towards the Tramuntana and the south coast. This reduces rental cars and traffic volumes.

2. Smartly steer seasonal offers: Hotels and excursion providers could tailor special offers for Weeze passengers — extended weekends, culinary packages or hiking weeks that intentionally stagger island usage.

3. Make environmental costs visible: A small surcharge for short-haul flights or partnerships with local reforestation projects that guests can optionally support when booking — transparency helps guide behaviour.

4. Improve infrastructure at both ends: Weeze needs to optimize parking, roads and terminal processes; Majorca should invest in waste management, signage and local traffic control in popular winter destinations.

A look into the future — a bit of optimism, a bit of realpolitik

When the first flight from Weeze lands in Palma in the morning, you can hear the clatter of suitcases on the street and the sea somewhere in the distance. The possibility of making Majorca more lively and economically stable in the low season is real. But it requires planning, openness to new offers and the courage to address uncomfortable facts: fewer flights are not automatically the solution, but unregulated growth creates losers — in communities, on nature trails and often among locals.

In the end it is about balance. Weeze shows that a small airport can trigger big things — now it is up to authorities, businesses and hosts on Majorca to steer this impulse so that the wind of season extension remains a fresh breeze and not a storm across the island.

Note: All figures come from announcements by Weeze Airport for the 2025/26 winter season.