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OFFBEAT

Could bottled Ibiza air be this summer’s best souvenir?

If you fancy taking home a more out of the ordinary souvenir this summer, how about some fresh air from Spain’s holiday isle?

Published: 6 July 2016 14:53 CEST
Could bottled Ibiza air be this summer's best souvenir?
Gianluca Pomo and his tins of Aire de Ibiza. Photo: Airedeibiza.es

Two families on the Spanish island of Ibiza have started selling one of the island’s most unlimited commodities: its air.  

Italian ice cream seller Gianluca Pomo and his friend José Antonio Fernández were walking through the Ibizan countryside on a day out with their families when they struck upon the idea.

“We realized how lucky we were and we decided to try and immortalize that moment,” Fernández told The Local.

“We decided to seal the air in a container so that whenever you looked at it, you remembered that moment,” he added.

Pomo, who runs an ice cream shop on the island, began selling Aire de Ibiza (Air of Ibiza) a month ago and the pair already report a lot of interest – unsurprisingly, mainly from tourists keen to take home a more unusual souvenir.

“Aire de Ibiza is designed exclusively for tourists and visitors to the island so that they can take with them a souvenir, an emotion, a piece of the island… in the form of air,” Fernández told The Local of the product, which sells for €5.90 a tin.

But what makes Ibiza’s air so different from the air in other parts of Spain and further afield?

“It’s the purity of the air,” says Fernández. “The air in Ibiza is pure and virgin, and the air – as well as the moments you enjoy breathing it in – is unique.”

The air inside the green tin featuring a map of the island is described as “100 percent pure air, no additives, made in Spain and gluten free” while its label reads:

“Close your eyes and breathe deeply, imagine blue like the colour of our sea. Remember the sensational light of our island, don’t forget our sunsets, give yourself space for your emotions, don’t abandon your dreams and live with optimism.”

For Fernández and Pomo, the idea of “bottling” the air is not about opening the tin, far from it: it is hermetically sealed to prevent it being opened. It’s about using it to bring back memories of your time on the island.

Unsurprisingly, there have been some people who simply do not get the concept.

“There have been people who just think we’re pulling their leg,” admits Fernández, “but generally it has been really well received.”  

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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