The interest of the Spanish Government in developing airmail during the first decades of the 20th century, led to a study of the possibility of establishing an air mail line to the Balearic Islands.

A month later, in August, the first regular air route between Madrid and Palma, stopping at Valencia, was created using the Son Sant Joan aerodrome.

[5] In 1954, the runway was enlarged and paved to enable the operation of F-86 Sabre fighters, which also meant the diversion of the Palma–Llucmajor road.

During those years, the first paved taxiways and aprons were built, while Son Bonet received the first big groups of European tourists through the airlines BEA, Air France and Aviaco.

During that year, a terminal and a civilian apron were built south of the military facilities, along with a VHF communication center.

[5] Just two weeks later, expansion of the airport was declared urgent by the government, and on summer 1961 the works of extension of the runway and taxiway were started.

At the end of the year, more plans were made, including a power plant, a communications centre and fire and rescue facilities.

[5][8] After reaching 1 million passengers for the first time in 1962, in 1965, a new terminal was constructed, and air navigation services were completed at the end of the following year.

[1] Today, Palma de Mallorca airport carries over 29.7 million passengers[10] per year to their destinations, with 178,253 aircraft movements, mostly to mainland Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom.

In November 2015, Air Berlin (1978–2017) announced that it would shut down its hub operations at the airport which it had maintained for over ten years.

This main terminal was designed by local architect Pere Nicolau Bover and was officially opened on 12 April 1997.

It is used mainly by Eurowings and Condor along with EasyJet and Norwegian Air Shuttle flights to Schengen destinations.

The refurbishment and expansion is so that the module can handle more flights, and to improve ways to get into the pier as it is the longest walk from security control.

[15] Both Futura International Airways and Iberworld had large operational offices on the premises of the airport but these are no longer in use.