Laudamotion will double the number of Airbus A320s it has based at Majorca from two to four this summer as competitors reduce their presence on the Spanish island.

The Ryanair subsidiary says the additional two aircraft at Palma de Mallorca will allow the opening of "numerous new" routes – these are not specified – and increased frequencies from Germany and Austria to the Balearic Island.

Laudamotion says it is reacting "directly and extremely quickly to the changed market situation and the increased demand".

The Austrian carrier is inviting Germania and Norwegian cabin crew based on the Spanish island to join its growing operations at Palma.

Norwegian disclosed in January that it plans to close its crew base at Palma later this year. The Scandinavian carrier signalled a "minor reduction" in weekly frequencies to Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Helsinki and Oslo from the Balearic island.

Germania, which opened a base at Palma in 2017, filed for insolvency earlier this month.

FlightGlobal schedules data shows that Ryanair is the largest operator at Palma, with an near-20% share of seat capacity. Vueling is second with 19.5%, and Air Europa third with 14.4%. Laudamotion currently accounts for 3% of the available seats.

Source: Cirium Dashboard