The difference is that LESB and LEPA are not in competiton.
Landing a small aircraft at LEPA costs many hundred Euros these days. No SEP or MEP pilot flies there. Hence, there is no Avgas there. No demand, no supply.
Also, almost nobody flying to LESB needs customs. There are no countries nearby Mallorca which are either not Schengen or not EU. You are probably the only SEP/MEP pilot who would consider flying UK – Mallorca non-stop. Even pilots flying from Switzerland will always make a short stop somewhere in southern France, for the much lower fuel cost in France vs. Spain alone. Hence, there is no demand for customs as LESB. No demand, no supply.
Conspiracy theories do not appear as such to those who come up with them… so… 
Maybe my use of the English language is just bad but so is Wikipedia’s…
You seem to imply that there is always some sinister guy plotting schemes to screw others.
Maybe one airport doesn’t have AVGAS because it doesn’t seem to be worth the investment (> 100k€) or nobody has any compelling reason to do it? And the other airfield doesn’t have customs because that is a status that is very hard to get and requires approval by the government which is usually not easily driven by economic considerations of businesses. Also maybe because 90% of the target customers fly from a EU/Schengen country and it’s just not a major issue?
The issue isn’t piston GA; well not SEPs. Long range SEP traffic is negligible. There is a lot of bizjet traffic which matters financially and a good % of which would re-route from an airport charging a few hundred. Despite the perception of unlimited wealth, not every bizjet owner loves being blatently ripped off everywhere they go.
Or at least that (loss of the bigger GA stuff) is the normal perception in the management of a large airport which is near a small one; it is common that they will tolerate the small one but only below a certain level of development and facilities.
Many years ago, when the MEP scene was a big part of GA, including AOC ops, the bigger airports tried to prevent their small neighbours expanding runways to accommodate MEPs. This mentality still continues… Of course they don’t do it openly (although Biggin Hill isn’t too bothered in overtly blocking Redhill planning apps) because it looks dirty and self-serving – as is the case in most scenarios where an “obviously desirable improvement” creates some losers; the losers tend to work against it under the table. Aviation medicals, anyone? Human nature…
That wiki page is just meaningless drivel.
Back to the original question in the title. I flew to Son Bonet earlier this year. Isle of Man to Jersey, fill up with cheap fuel, direct Pamplona to clear customs and avoid highest Pyrennes, then direct Son Bonet. I got fantastic help from Aart who lives in Mallorca which made the whole thing very straight forward and very pleasant.
Except, I missed one thing, there is no tower at Son Bonet, it’s an Air to Air frequency (not sure if it’s permanent air to air). I was quite embarrassed by a polite helicopter pilot telling me this as I was making the fourth call to the non existant ATC.
Might be worth checking.
Well, a short look at the AIP (or Jeppesen) entry for LESB reveals this…
Hi guys,
I m now in Majorca and experience was good. Air to air info is confortable for me I m from a patatoes airfield. But to be honest Spanish atc doesn’t care about VFR. Pleased don t forgot to close your flight plan after crashing.
Palma app just forget me. An other plane was behind me same alt. They just don t care. When I contact them, they mistake me with the other one. Sometime I prefer nothing than that but it was perfectly ok, the guy even apologized !!! But always very friendly.
The other plane land just after me, t was a PC12 ! VFR, 1000 AGL !!!
And just to add a coin on the GA jukebox. Inside were the son of Stephanie of Monaco. Why ? Just because the slot in Palma was not available for one entire week.
The pilots had to take a liner for the way back but they were in son bonet, not in Palma intl airport. As my car (you remember SocialCar ?) was here with its kind owner Marta and the two pilots were very short in time, I drived them to Palma.
Sometime small aviation can help bigger one. It was friendly.
We were in holidays, they were working, we did our best I hope they get the plane.
I m a small French pilote, and my experience is of course mainly is France, but I can understand how lucky we are to have this strong VFR and light aviation spirit. In an other hand, I needn’t help.
I m flying VFR without auto pilot, my eyes are my best instrument. So far so good.
On the way back, I m thinking to land to requena to visit friends… any advises ?
Have safe flights
Requena is nice.. And you may want to consider other non-AENA fields too on your trip:
https://www.euroga.org/forums/flying/5711-spain-state-owned-vs-private-airfields#post_103040
When you go to Requena from Son Bonet you’ll generally pass over the Castellon (LECN) airfield. Worth a coffee stop, 30 m from the beach.. If you go there (or fly over it) do check with the local Flight Office frequency if there is para jumping going on.
Enjoy the rest of your stay in Mallorca
I’ve been planning the visit to Mallorca for few years but somehow, we always went to other near by places. As weather at the beginning of October is usually still good, especially in Spain, we decided to make this trip. Although I can fly directly from Croatia to Mallorca, the problem with crossing Schengen border prevents me to land directly at Son Bonet LESB while landing to Palma’s main airport LEPA is too expensive. So, we decided to make a fuel stop at Sardinia (Alghero LIEA) with getting enough fuel to reach LESB and return without refueling there, having in mind higher fuel prices in Spain.
The flight from LDZA to LIEA lasted 3:05 hours for covering some 500 NM with some headwinds, not too strong.
Nothing special on this leg except super nice weather and few clouds on landing at LIEA.
The following leg stretched along wide sea area but flying twin significantly lowers the risk. The air was smooth and we were accompanied again with some headwinds taking us 2 hours to cover 270 NM.
Last few miles were flown slowly at 1000 AGL from Mallorca shoreline to LESB avoiding LEPA CTR, enabling us nice sightseeing.
There was not much traffic around and at LESB, just one fire surveillance aircraft, which we met earlier in the air close to the coast, landed after us. We were greeted by @Aart and @Antonio who ensured we’re properly parked and tied.
The taxi ride to Palma was under €10 and after leaving the luggage in the apartment we started our visit to the city. For those who like old architecture Palma really has a lot to offer.
We spent that afternoon and evening combining walking down the streets, having beers and diner.
Next day was more walking around the city and enjoying the beach and swimming. The sea temperature was around 24-25 degrees which is quite warm but I guess usual for this time of the year.
The building that reminds me to Barcelona
Arab bath
Obviously, a windmill
City walls
The beach wasn’t crowdy at all
For the next day, following @Aart’s recommendation, we rented a car and drove across the mountain of Tramontana, along the western coast of the island and then back to Palma. Incredible scenic places, stunning nature and beautiful cities made our day.
Andratx
Banyalbufar
Valldemossa
Soller
After morning coffee and some additional sightseeing around Palma, we were greeted by @Aart at LESB for last goodbye before next fly-in.
The return flight to Alghero was over the same route but it lasted 15 min less due to tailwinds enabling us to cover 270 NM in 1:45 hours. The average GS wasn’t so high because the start was low end slow until passing shoreline where we picked up IFR clearance and started climb. Refueling stop was really quick as same as on our outbound flight and it’s worth of mentioning that the coffee at FBO was delicious. Our flight to Zagreb lasted 3:05 hours again, regardless the tailwind and shortcuts we got from ATC because we hit busy time at LDZA (8 p.m.) and had to slow down a bit to line up with other arriving traffic for ILS approach.
Brilliant photos, Emir! Glad you liked the stop in Alghero. It‘s a really painless airport, by Italian standards. And yes, no doubt about the café in Italy.
Son Bonet, whilst not a „pretty“ airport serves its purpose well and outside higg season isn‘t all too expensive.
I recognise some of those pics… was sitting in a cafe near that cathedral.
It’s great to get these nics trips in late in the year. Everywhere is so much less crowded.
