The Obra Cultural Balear has once again called on the Minister of Transport to modify the official name of Palma airport to align it with the official toponymy, proposing 'Palma Airport (Mallorca)' or 'Palma Airport - Mallorca'.
The Obra Cultural Balear (OCB) has renewed its linguistic claim, which is not new but remains relevant: that Palma airport stop being officially called 'Palma de Mallorca' and instead be named 'Palma Airport (Mallorca)' or 'Palma Airport - Mallorca'. The request, sent this Monday to the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, aims to align the infrastructure with the official toponymy of the Balearic capital.
According to the entity in a statement, the proposal comes after the Ministry's response to a request made by the OCB in September 2025, in which the Government defended maintaining the reference to Mallorca, considering it a 'consolidated tourist brand'. However, the OCB believes that the two alternatives now proposed allow for the reference to the island without perpetuating the toponym 'Palma de Mallorca', which does not correspond to the official name of the Balearic capital.
The official name, according to the law
In a letter sent to the minister, the president of the OCB, Antoni Llabrés, argues that the official name of the municipality is solely 'Palma', as recorded in the Estatut d'Autonomia, the Capitality Law of Palma, and the Register of Local Entities of the Ministry of Territorial Policy, where since 2017 only this name appears. The entity maintains that, although the Ministry defends keeping the reference to Mallorca, this does not imply that it should be part of the official toponym of the city and believes it can be incorporated through formulas like those now proposed.
The OCB has also reminded that the competence in toponymy belongs to the Autonomous Community and that the Linguistic Normalization Law establishes that official names are the only legal ones and that public infrastructures must conform to them. For the residents of Palma, the change may seem a minor detail, but it affects signage, plane tickets, and official documentation that thousands of people handle every day.
A historical claim
This is not the first time the OCB has raised this request. The entity has been advocating for years that the airport, as a public infrastructure, should reflect the official name of the city. In September 2025, it already requested the change, but the Ministry then responded that the reference to Mallorca was a 'consolidated tourist brand'. Now, the OCB insists with two formulas that, in its view, satisfy both parties: keeping the island in the name without violating the toponymy of Palma.
The controversy is not trivial: Palma airport is one of the busiest in Spain, with over 30 million passengers a year, and its name appears on signs, websites, and tickets worldwide. A name change would involve updating all signage and documentation, something the OCB considers necessary to 'respect the legality and identity of the city'.
What will happen now?
The ball is now in the court of the Ministry of Transport. The OCB expects a response in the coming months, although it is not optimistic: 'The Ministry already told us that the tourist brand is a priority, but we believe that the law is on our side,' sources from the entity state. In the meantime, the residents of Palma will continue to see on their plane tickets a name that, according to the OCB, is not theirs.
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