Isla Air Express is a new Spanish airline based in Palma de Mallorca and is preparing to begin commercial seaplane services in the coming months. Backed by German investors and operating under the Maltese Air Operators Certificate (AOC) of sister company Mediterranean Coastal Airlines, the carrier intends to begin inter-island flights around the Spanish archipelago of the Balearic Islands using a pair of De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter seaplanes.
According to World Aviation News, Klaus Martin, one of the founders of Isla Air Express co-owned another seaplane company several years ago in the form of European Coastal Airlines, based at Split seaport in Croatia. The new carrier will use its first aircraft, appropriately registered 9H-PALMA, on the carrier’s first route between Palma Harbor and Ibiza Town on the island of Ibiza in the Balearics.
This aircraft is 46.8 years old having first flown in 1978. The aircraft has been noted carrying out demonstration and crew training flights from Palma in recent days, with the most recent being a 35-minute flight from Palma to Ibiza on November 6, 2024. These first test flights are being performed to permit the company to evaluate landing and take-off zones for its aircraft. These flights are the culmination of six years of planning as the company seeks operator permits from both the Balearic Islands Port Authority and the Spanish Aviation Safety Agency (AESA).
According to the Isla Air Express website, the carrier “is a company created by aviation professionals with a demonstrable experience of operating commercial sea[plane flights in different parts of the world, with the objective developing this form of transport in Spain.”
“The Balearic Islands provide the ideal environment for this kind of operation. The mild climate and surrounding waters are the perfect environment in which to operate all year round, providing benefits for both the general population in the form of access to a novel new type of transport, and for tourism by equipping the tourist industry with a high-quality product that brings added value to the sector.“
Once established, the operator plans to offer high-frequency services from Palma to the islands of Ibiza, Formentera, and Menorca. There will also be other inter-island services plus flights from both Palma and Ibiza to Alicante (ALC) and Valencia (VLC) on the Spanish mainland where the Twin Otters can land on tarmac runways through the use of retractable wheels affixed to their floats. Flights are planned to operate on 365 days per year.
When not deployed on the scheduled flight program, the carrier plans to offer its pair of Twin Otters on private charter and sightseeing flights around the Balearic Islands.