Majorca Flights On Time, Despite Bomb Horror

Yesterday's horrific bombing in a busy tourist resort in Majorca hasn't stopped holidaymakers jetting out to the Spanish island.

Dublin Airport Authority said this morning that flights to and from Palma, Majorca, are running to schedule.

While they said passengers who have concerns should contact their airline, it looks like it's 'business as usual' for the country's vital tourist industry.

British as well as Irish tourists are defying yesterday's deadly terror attack and travelling as normal.

Despite the double murder of two Spanish police officers who were killed in the car bomb blast in the Palmanova beach resort, the return today of inbound tourists will be seen as a fillip to the recession-hit Spanish tourist industry.

It will also be seen as a snub to the terrorists bent on inflicting both murderous and economic harm on Spain.

Especially after three decades of local terrorism during the North's Troubles, people are expected to ignore the bombing and get on with their holiday.

Doreen McKenzie, Northern Ireland spokeswoman for the Association of British Travel Agents, told the Belfast News Letter last night there had been minimal disruption to travellers.

Ms McKenzie said: "If this bomb in Majorca turns out to be a one-off it should not be a big worry for travellers."

Spanish authorities blamed yesterday's deadly bomb attack on the Basque separatist group Eta and said that the explosion represented the first fatal bomb attack in the Balearic Islands.

Two police officers, identified as Carlos Saenz de Tejada Garcia and Diego Salva Lesaun, both in their 20s, were killed in the blast. A second unexploded device was later found near the explosion site and was defused.

However, after massive disruption yesterday afternoon - when the island was effectively 'locked down' - all the holidaymakers stranded at the island's Palma airport were being allowed to fly home.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero described the killings as "vile" and paid tribute to the Civil Guards and said the killers would be caught.

The deadly incident came just a day after a massive car bomb in the northern Spanish city of Burgos injured more than 60 people.

Eta has been held responsible for more than 820 deaths during its decades-long campaign for an independent homeland in Spain's Basque region.

The bombs came ahead of the 50th anniversary of Eta's founding, today, (Friday).

Last August, a series of bomb attacks in the Costa del Sol's Benalmadena area caused minor damage, and no injuries.

(BMcC/KMcA)