"There is no point having flights to New York if in winter we only have four direct routes to mainland Spain": Mar Ocaña on Ibiza’s air links

The news that United Airlines will connect Ibiza and New York from summer 2027, with four weekly flights between Es Codolar airport and Newark, has prompted more than just excitement about future travel. On Diario de Ibiza’s Facebook page, the question was simple: Where would you like to see direct flights from Ibiza to?

The answers ended up drawing a very particular map: plenty of southern Spain, plenty of northern mainland destinations, a strong desire for better links with Menorca, considerable interest in Italy and Germany, a few transatlantic dreams and, inevitably, a healthy dose of local humour. The ultimate dream is not always Manhattan. Sometimes it is Granada. Or Menorca. Or León. Or simply reaching your destination without losing an entire day to connecting flights.

Because New York sounds appealing, but for many readers the real luxury is not crossing the Atlantic, but being able to reach Granada, Seville, Asturias, León, Menorca or Almería without turning a one-hour flight into an all-day journey involving a stopover.

Granada (sic), Seville, Córdoba and Almería: strong demand for the south

One of the most frequently requested destinations is Granada — despite the article’s original claim that it does not have an airport. Readers ask for it with the determination of people making not so much a suggestion as a long-standing demand.

“Granada all year round”, writes JA Sánchez Sánchez. Along the same lines, Ana Díaz calls for “Granada all year round!”, while Rosa Maria Lozano sums up the family and social reasons behind the request: “Granada, because lots of us here are from there”. Whether or not the airport issue is relevant to them seems beside the point. They want to get to Granada. End of story.

Seville also appears repeatedly. Ana Maria Rosado explains it from the perspective of everyday family life: “Seville, three times a week. My daughter, my grandchildren and my son-in-law are there, so it would be very useful for me”. Rocío Mateo goes even further, asking for “Seville every day”. Inmaculada Marí Mayans keeps it to a single word, but adds an exclamation mark: “Seville!”

The south does not stop there. Córdoba, Jerez and Almería also feature on the list. Ángela Na asks for “Córdoba and Oviedo every day”; Mari Medina Cano suggests “Córdoba”; Fina Ribas combines destinations with “Córdoba and Granada”; and Paqui Domínguez Bueno calls for “Jerez”.

Merly Núñez asks directly for “Almería, every day”, while Luque Antonia Maria phrases it as though the route were already displayed on the airport departure board: “Ibiza-Almería”.

Menorca, so close yet so far

Another major theme is Menorca. Not because it is exotic, but precisely because it is so close. For some readers, the fact that two Balearic islands are not better connected is difficult to understand.

Zenón PM expresses his frustration plainly: “Menorca. It is disgraceful that there are no direct flights for people living in the Balearics”. Maika Fernández Gómez agrees: “Menorca — so close, yet you have to make a connection”.

Antonia Torres Tur calls for “Menorca all year round!!”, while Andrea Bisbal Sayer makes the same request in Catalan: “Menorca, tot s’any” — Menorca, all year round.

Yolanda Roig includes Menorca among her priorities: “Menorca, Granada and London. All year round.” Fede Del Almendro opts for “Menorca and Girona”, while Juan Cardona Torres is equally clear: “Direct to Menorca”.

Northern Spain also wants a place on the map

Northern mainland Spain emerges as another major group of requests. Galicia, Asturias, Santander, San Sebastián, Valladolid, León and Zaragoza appear repeatedly.

Narcís Planells Noguera proposes a kind of geographical balance: “Menorca, one connection to the south — Seville/Málaga — and one to the north — Galicia/Asturias/Basque Country".

Paula Llorente asks for “Asturias all year round, and Menorca”, while Maria Dolores Mares insists: “Asturias all year round”.

Galicia also appears in several forms. Julio García proposes direct flights to “Santiago, A Coruña, Vigo”; Dolores Sixto asks for “Santiago all year round”; and Mary Rey García suggests “A Coruña, Galicia”. In the same vein, Mari Cruz Pereira calls for “Vigo”.

León has its own small lobbying group. Meta Mess asks for “LEÓN, ALL YEAR ROUND, not just one day a week for four months”, a view shared by Torny Sheldon and David Martínez.

There are also calls for Zaragoza, Valladolid, Santander, San Sebastián, Pamplona and Salamanca. Marga Prats Vidal asks: “Zaragoza — I do not know why they stopped those flights”; Maria Sala Marí wants “Valladolid, all year round”; María Martín Díez calls for “Santander”; Evelyn Aikman chooses “Pamplona!”; and Margarita Figueruelo Burrieza requests flights to Salamanca.

Italy, Germany and the rest of Europe: residents are also looking abroad

It is not all about mainland Spain. Many readers point out that Ibiza is also home to a highly international population and that several connections are sorely missed outside the summer season.

Lina Ribas Roselló asks for “more year-round direct flights to Italy”. Valentina Assorbi is more specific: “Milan all year round would be great for me”. Riko Fra suggests Palermo, Ilenya Ile asks for Sicily, and Alessandra Beccia calls for Turin.

Germany also features prominently. Manuela Kasi asks for “Düsseldorf and Dortmund all year round, like years ago”, while Anne Lutz suggests Frankfurt/Hahn.

Elsewhere in Europe, readers request flights to Bucharest, Belgrade, Brussels, Budapest, Helsinki, Lisbon, Oslo, Lithuania, Greece, Edinburgh, Croatia and Turkey. Laura Leon dreams of direct flights to “Turkey, Macedonia, Croatia, Edinburgh...”, while Eva Weissenfels asks for “Lisbon all year round”.

The call for year-round flights

The question may have been about flights, but some readers quickly brought the discussion back to other problems affecting the island.

Mar Ocaña sums up a widely shared complaint: summer connections are not always of much use to those who actually live and work in Ibiza.

“As many places as possible. Bearing in mind that most of us work in summer, these connections do not benefit us. There is no point having them if, in winter, when we can actually travel, we only have four direct routes to mainland Spain”, she writes.

She also criticises inter-island transport: “And what can you say about the little plane we have for inter-island flights? It is a bit embarrassing having aircraft like that when we need to fly to Palma”.

Rafael Ramírez Parejo shifts the focus too: “First they need to sort out the bus routes, because people live here in winter as well”. Simona Thai puts it even more briefly: “And in winter, not even a bus”.

Others simply do not want any more flights. Jon Perry writes: “Nowhere. There are already too many flights and too many people”. Elionor Ferris Malonda agrees from a broader tourism perspective: “Fewer flights and fewer tourists”. Carmen Pozo Tamayo would rather priorities lay elsewhere: “Places in Spain, not the United States”.

And, as with any good Facebook thread, the announcement of the New York route also produced a few impossible suggestions.

Some readers ask for routes within the Pityusic Islands themselves. Gini Balaguer writes: “To my house in Cala de Bou, and preferably by seaplane so it can drop me right outside”.

Juan Antonio Escandell Marí proposes an alternative Balearic route: “Formentera, because I get seasick on the ferry...”

And Alex Trinidad stays even closer to home: “Santa Eulària”.