Spain cancelled flights warning as Brits face holiday chaos

This week’s blistering heatwave has caused travel chaos for many as airports are overwhelmed by the extreme weather. The soaring temperatures and overnight thunderstorms have caused disruptions to flights in and out of airports in the UK.

Edinburgh Airport diverted and cancelled flights as thunderstorms battered Scotland. In the early hours of Friday morning, the Met Office recorded thousands of lightning strikes as the storms moved across the country.

France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Germany have also experienced airport delays as Western and Central Europe also bask in the blistering heat.

More than 2,000 flights across Europe have been disrupted this month, Majorca Daily Bulletin reports, due to a combination of storms, congested airspace, and bottlenecks at large airports.

New research from AirAdvisor shows that Spanish routes are currently the worst affected for UK travellers. Overall delay rates at Palma in Mallorca have more than doubled, from 3.66% to 7.60%.

At Alicante Elche airport, delays have nearly tripled from 4.39% to 11.73%, meaning roughly one in nine departures is running at least an hour late. The average wait for an already-delayed flight is a whopping 124 minutes.

The Majorca Daily Bulletin reports that the fatalities have been attributed to soaring temperatures as Spain grapples with its first heatwave of the year, which commenced last Sunday and is now easing.

The central and northern areas have borne the brunt of the extreme conditions. Wednesday, June 24, recorded the highest excess mortality rate, accounting for nearly half of the deaths (96).