National
Air Berlin editorial upsets Catalan politicians on Mallorca
By h.b. - Jun 9, 2008 - 8:04 PM
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The wishes of the regional government on the Balearic Islands to promote the use of the Catalan language have had some unexpected results. A letter was sent to several airlines which serve the islands asking them to increase their use of Catalan, and to make it one of the languages used when passengers are addressed.
This brought a response from Air Berlin President, Joachim Hunold, printed as an editorial in the company’s in-flight magazine, claiming that there were children on Mallorca who cannot speak Spanish, and saying that the autonomous communities of Spain amounted to regional nationalism and a return to mediaeval mini-states.
This resulted in an ex ERC left wing Catalan M.P. Joan Puig, to call for a boycott of the airline on his blog, where he also added a swastika and referred to the airline as ‘Air Goebbels’.
Now that response has in turn been denounced by the airline, which says it is going to sue the ex deputy. Puig says the airline needs to apologise for its earlier comments, and treat the Catalan language as it should for the problem to be resolved.
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