Palma de Mallorca Son Sant Joan Airport (PMI) Flights & Information

Palma de Mallorca Airport (PMI) is huge – it’s Spain’s third busiest after Madrid and Barcelona, and one of Europe’s biggest vacation destination airports year-round. With so many vacationers flying to Palma, you can reach it nonstop from more than a hundred European airports on your choice of low-cost airline or full-service network carrier, and it’s easy to connect to PMI via every European airline hub.

It’s so big that it’s definitely an airport layout you want to figure out before you go to avoid a long and exhausting walk in the event you head the wrong direction first. This comprehensive guide will help you plan your PMI experience in advance.

PMI terminal and layout

PMI has 1 big terminal that handles all the check-in, security, departures, arrivals, baggage claim and ground transportation. Off this main terminal are walkways to four concourses lettered A through D and containing the gates whose numbers begin with those letters.

To get to Concourse A, turn hard left after security – these can be quite the walk, so make sure you leave yourself enough time to get to your gate. You’re most likely to be using the A gates if you’re flying to a country outside the European Schengen Area, the common visa and border zone to which most European countries belong (with the notable exception of Ireland and the UK).

Concourse B is mainly used by the smaller planes of regional airlines, so if you’re island hopping around the Mediterranean or to regional Spain you might find yourself here. To reach it, proceed forward and slightly left after security. If you hit the A gates, you’ve gone too far.

The C gates are mainly used for Schengen Area flights, primarily for low-cost carriers including flights on Condor, easyJet, Eurowings and Ryanair. Concourse D is also mainly used for Schengen Area flights, with most of the European full-service airlines such as KLM, Lufthansa and Swiss using these gates. Quite a few of the low-cost carriers use it too, including Volotea and Vueling.

One thing to be aware of is that the airport’s flight information screens use a mixture of the 2-letter and 3-letter airline codes and aren’t super-clear about which airline is operating the flight (rather than just codesharing the route). I always make sure to double check the screens by my flight number for correct information.

The greatest variety of shops and restaurants is found in the central terminal area, with many upstairs on the top floor. There are a few options after passport control in the non-Schengen A area, as well as more over in the C area.

The B area is close enough to the terminal that you can use the shops and restaurants here easily, but be aware that you won’t have a lot of options in the D area – stop off in the central terminal area before you head off towards your gate in this case.

Arriving in PMI: Schengen and non-Schengen

Most flights into Palma de Mallorca will arrive from the Schengen Area in Europe. In this case, the experience is like a domestic flight – simply walk from your arrival gate to baggage claim and out into the arrivals area. If you’re arriving from a non-Schengen country, you’ll need to go through passport control before you arrive at the baggage area.

Expect quite the walk if your plane ends up parking at the far end of the A, C or D concourses – it can be more than half a mile in some cases. If you or anyone you’re traveling with needs help walking, has mobility restrictions or otherwise needs assistance, this is definitely one airport where I strongly recommend booking whatever assistance you need well in advance via your airline.

If you’re meeting a hotel representative or tour operator for your onward transportation, they’re most likely to be awaiting you in arrivals after the baggage hall. Make sure you have their exact meeting point at hand when you get to the airport – arrivals can get pretty busy.

Getting to and from the airport by public transportation

Neither the Mallorca rail system nor the metro light rail serve the airport, so your public transportation options are either the city buses into Palma itself, the intercity buses for elsewhere on the island or a pre-booked transfer bus to your accommodation.

Local buses are run by EMTA Palma, and the main airport route is the A1, which heads west into Palma city center and terminates at Passeig Mallorca. The A2 heads southeast along the seafront to Arenal, while the 34 heads north and then west inland towards Son Espases.

Intercity buses from PMI are run by TIB, and the 4 routes span off in 4 directions: A11 to Camp de Mar and the west, A32 to Can Picafort in the north, A42 to Cala Bona in the east and A51 to Campos in the south. All make stops along the way and you can change for other local bus services around the island.

Getting to and from the airport by car

Mallorca is a small part of the world where rideshare apps have yet to proliferate. Uber works here, but surge pricing is so frequently applied that it’s almost always cheaper to jump in a taxi.

Taxis can also be expensive, though, so unless I’m traveling with others to split the cost, I’ll always jump on the bus if I’m heading to the center of Palma, even if I then change to a taxi to get to my specific hotel. If I’m heading elsewhere on the island, taking the intercity bus almost always saves a good chunk of cash.

All this also means that Mallorca is one of those vacation destinations where I’ll often check with my hotel, villa or apartment provider whether they have a transfer or pick-up option at the airport. It’s also a spot where a rental car can be surprisingly good value.

PMI airport check-in, security lines and departures

There’s one giant check-in hall for the whole of Palma airport with over 200 desks. This is definitely one airport where you’ll want to check which desks your airline uses so you can be dropped off at the closest door and avoid squeezing through crowds and their baggage.

As you look at the terminal from the front, desk 1 is on the far left, desk 100 is roughly in the middle and desk 204 is on the far right. That means, a little counter-intuitively, that the first desks you come to if you’re being dropped off by a car are desks 171 through 204, with desks 1 through 34 all the way at the end of the terminal.

Security lines at Palma don’t have the best reputation among travelers, so do make sure you arrive in good time, especially in peak vacation periods. There’s a fast-track system for business class passengers and some airline frequent flyers, and most low-cost carriers will also try to sell you access to it. You can also purchase it directly from the airport – not a bad idea if you don’t fancy lining up in the high season.

If you’re flying outside the Schengen Area, make sure you head on out to the gates in Concourse A in very good time since lines can be very long, especially during school breaks in the UK and Ireland.

Lounges at PMI

PMI has 4 VIP lounges, all of which are run by the airport rather than a particular airline: the Valldemossa lounge in the main terminal, the Llevant lounge in Concourse A (in the non-Schengen Area after passport control), the Mediterranean lounge in Concourse C and the Formentor lounge in Concourse D.

They’re handy for getting out of the crowds (although if there are crowds in the main terminal the lounges are likely to be busy too) but I’d buy myself a meal in the terminal instead of paying my way in. The Valldemossa lounge is probably the best (and convenient for Concourses B, C and D). I like the starship-style aesthetic of the Formentor lounge, but I wouldn’t make a special trip down to Concourse D for it.

Only 1 lounge is on the Priority Pass network: the Sala Llevant after passport control in Concourse A, outside the Schengen Area. If you’re flying intra-Schengen, then you’re out of luck.

Free Wi-Fi at Palma de Mallorca Airport

PMI offers free Wi-Fi. Look for the “Airport Free Wifi Aena” network – your device may autoconnect if you’ve connected to the Wi-Fi in another Spanish airport. You’ll need to give the system your email address, after which you have 15 minutes to verify via the email from Aena, the Spanish airport operator. Once you’ve verified your email, there’s no time limit on the connection.