Tens of thousands of Mallorca-bound British tourists facing long air delays this summer, airline boss warns

"Broken air traffic control system" is blamed

Air passengers facing long delays.

Jason Moore29/03/2025 10:22

Tens of thousands of tourists heading to Mallorca this summer face long air delays as a result of the "broken" European air traffic control system, according to Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary in a report this morning in The Independent newspaper.

According to the front-page article written by travel expert Simon Calder "holidaymakers are set to face the worst air traffic control issues in a quarter of a century" this summer with 30 million UK air passengers delayed between June and August.

Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary was quoted as saying in the Independent: "It will be worse than last summer, particularly at weekends. Europe needs to fix what is a broken air traffic control system for which we pay ridiculously expensive fees."

Tourists heading to Mallorca were hit by a number of weather-related problems at Palma Airport last summer which led to the airport being temporarily closed due to heavy rain.

The warning comes as Palma Airport prepares for a record holiday season with thousands more flights from across Europe and beyond. Apart from the weather problems at the airport there were some delays as a result of problems with air traffic control.