Flights have been disrupted at Palma airport.

Flights have been disrupted at Palma airport. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

Humphrey CarterPalma24/09/2024 17:04
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A technical failure at the air traffic control centre in Marseille is causing delays across European airspace and is also affecting Spain’s Enaire’s network, according to the air traffic centre on its X account. The problems have affected Son Sant Joan airport in Palma, where some flights are delayed. Spanish airport authority Aena has said that the delays are especially affecting the airports in the Balearics, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia and Malaga.

For this reason, both entities have recommended passengers check with the airlines the status of flights before heading to the airport. According to the specialised account @controladoresaereos there has been a “failure of radio equipment in the south of France bordering Spanish airspace” and warns of “probable route diversions and important delays for safety reasons”.

This is just another reason why Ryanair has issued a new warning to passengers with flights booked to or from European destinations. The low-cost airline has apologised this September after around 12% of its departures took off later than planned. This equates to 65 delayed flights, with Ryanair blaming air traffic control for the lack of staff. In an alert on its website, Ryanair says: “Air traffic control services, which have benefited from being unaffected by the French air traffic controllers’ strike this summer, continue to underperform (despite flight volumes being 5% below 2019 levels) with repeated ‘staff shortages’.”

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As per Ryanair, their first wave of departures were delayed because of these shortages. A Ryanair statement said: “These repeated flight delays due to ATC mismanagement are unacceptable.”
The Irish low-cost airline said “excessive flight delays” were “affecting all European airlines” and added: “These repeated flight delays due to ATC mismanagement are unacceptable.

“We apologise to our passengers for these repeated flight delays due to air traffic control, which are very regrettable but beyond Ryanair’s control. We encourage passengers to visit atcruinedourholiday.com and demand that the European Commission take urgent action to improve the European air traffic control system.”

According to the ATC Network, the European air traffic control system is facing multiple challenges at the moment, including a faster than expected recovery of traffic after the pandemic, high seasonal demand and restricted airspace. “System fatigue and limits are being exhausted after years of underinvestment,“ it added.