Could delays at Palma de Mallorca airport affect my holiday? Your ...

Thousands of travellers faced delays or cancellations at Palma de Mallorca airport after a storm hit Spain’s Balearic Islands this week.

Ryanair claimed that “excessive” delays were caused by the “nonsensical decision” by Spanish air traffic control to block inbound traffic on Thursday morning due to the weather.

The budget airline claimed that flights departing Palma were permitted to proceed as normal.

Flight disruption followed weather alerts issued by the Spanish state meteorological agency.

Elsewhere in Mallorca, roads were flooded, and dozens of people were evacuated in the town of Soller and from a train between Palma and Manacor.

A red weather alert was downgraded to orange on Thursday as the Balearics remained at high risk of storms.

As of Friday afternoon, the warning had been reduced to yellow.

Yes, there was still disruption on Friday with delays of around two hours for several arriving and departing flights and at least four cancellations.

Data from FlightRadar24 revealed that, on Thursday, 77 per cent of flights departing Palma airport were delayed and 84 were cancelled.

Among arriving flights, 73 per cent were delayed and 80 were cancelled.

Extreme weather is typically considered an extraordinary circumstance under UK and EU law.

This means that passengers are unlikely to be eligible for compensation if their flight was cancelled or delayed due to the weather conditions in Mallorca.

Coby Benson, a solicitor at consumer law firm Bott and Co, previously told i: “Although compensation is unlikely [in such circumstances], passengers are protected with a right to care element of the regulation whereby airlines are still required to refund and reroute passengers at the earliest available opportunity.”

He added that when passengers are provided with a replacement flight for a cancelled service, it should be at the earliest available opportunity and with any air carrier that has available seats, not just with the airline the cancelled flight was booked with.

Passengers who are not re-routed by their airline at the earliest available opportunity are entitled to make a claim for compensation and a refund.

Airlines must be able to prove that they rerouted passengers as soon as they were able to. If passengers are forced to wait unnecessarily, this is when EU Regulation 261/UK261 takes effect.

Accommodation must be provided if passengers are delayed overnight, and transport to and from the accommodation and the airport must also be supplied.

Passengers who are delayed by over two hours at the airport are eligible to receive food and drink vouchers.

The UK Met Office forecast for Mallorca shows highs of 28°C and lows of 22°C on Friday. Sunshine, with some cloud at times, is expected for the rest of the weekend.

Enaire, the air navigation manager for Spain, was contacted for comment.