At Spain’s third-busiest airport, weather has become a frontline operational challenge. Palma de Mallorca Airport, the main gateway to the Balearic Islands, has spent the past two years grappling with intense summer downpours, Mediterranean storm systems and ongoing construction that together have repeatedly tested its resilience. With Balearic tourism depending heavily on reliable air links, how the airport navigates storms has become a crucial question for airlines, hoteliers and the millions of visitors who funnel through Son Sant Joan each year.
Stormier Skies Over a Critical Mediterranean Hub
Palma de Mallorca Airport occupies a uniquely exposed position in European tourism. Handling around 33.8 million passengers in 2025, according to traffic data from airport operator Aena, it is the primary access point to Mallorca and a vital hub for the wider Balearic archipelago. Nearly three-quarters of travelers passing through Palma are leisure passengers, underlining how closely the island’s economy is tied to smooth airport operations.
In recent seasons, that smoothness has been repeatedly disrupted by storms. Mediterranean summer and autumn systems, often forming rapidly and bringing short but violent downpours, have triggered flooding, reduced visibility, and strong crosswinds across the region. Storm cells over the mainland, particularly around Barcelona and Valencia, have also had knock-on effects on flights routed through Balearic airspace, even when Mallorca’s skies appeared relatively clear.
Episodes of severe weather have at times overwhelmed drainage infrastructure and complicated the major, multi-year terminal renovation now under way. The result has been a series of high-profile delays and partial shutdowns that have rippled across holiday plans, tested contingency procedures, and thrust the airport’s storm readiness into the political spotlight.
Recent Storm Disruptions: From Flooded Terminals to Mass Delays
One of the starkest illustrations of Palma’s vulnerability came during a powerful storm in June 2024, when torrential rain temporarily paralyzed activity at the airport. Intense downpours sent more than 50 litres of rain per square metre onto areas where roofing and drainage were still unfinished, allowing water to pour through parts of the terminal. Sections of the building flooded, passengers rushed for shelter, and air traffic was halted while emergency plans for flooding were activated.
Aena later attributed the scale of the flooding to the coincidence of extreme weather with construction work that had yet to complete key roof drainage systems. The operator said it had since adopted measures to prevent similar incidents, and began working with regional water authorities to reinforce external drainage around the airport. The events nevertheless highlighted how infrastructure upgrades, however necessary, can interact poorly with sudden storms.
Storm-related flight disruption intensified again during the 2025 summer season. In July, heavy rain and thunderstorms across northeastern Spain and the western Mediterranean led Spain’s air navigation provider Enaire to activate special safety protocols. With storm cells forcing controllers to increase spacing between take-offs and landings, hourly flight capacity was reduced across several Mediterranean sectors. Palma, operating near peak summer loads, saw widespread delays and occasional diversions as a result, even when weather over the airport itself briefly improved.
By late August, a second wave of unsettled conditions produced back-to-back days of operational strain. With official weather warnings in force for heavy rain and storms over Mallorca and Menorca, more than 100 flights to and from Palma suffered delays. According to figures shared by Aena at the time, around 120 services were hit in one day alone, while additional cancellations were recorded on routes from Paris and at Menorca’s airport.
Storm Alice and the Autumn Test of Resilience
The pattern continued into autumn with Storm Alice, a cut-off low pressure system (known locally as a DANA) that swept the Balearics in October 2025. The Spanish meteorological agency Aemet issued warnings for locally strong or very strong showers and thunderstorms accompanied by easterly winds, prompting maritime advisories and raising concerns about aviation safety across the islands.
At Palma, the storm’s impact was felt in cascading delays, cancellations and diversions. Over the course of the day, the vast majority of departures and arrivals were significantly delayed, often by several hours. At least 13 flights were cancelled, affecting inter-island connections, domestic Spanish services and international routes across Europe. Thunderstorms not only over Mallorca but also along mainland corridors forced aircraft to divert around storm cells, increasing flight times and reducing the overall flow of traffic that controllers could safely handle.
Storm Alice also underlined a less visible aspect of disruption: the mismatch between what passengers see from the terminal windows and what is happening in the wider airspace. Even when skies above Palma appeared relatively calm, regulatory limits on how many aircraft could use storm-affected sectors over the mainland constrained operations. For travelers, that translated into long waits, last-minute gate changes and missed connections, even in seemingly benign local conditions.
Emergency Protocols, Air Traffic Control and Safety Priorities
Behind the scenes, storm response at Palma hinges on a network of safety protocols involving Aena, Enaire, Aemet and local emergency services. During intense storms, Enaire can impose what controllers describe as reduced “rates” for specific sectors, effectively lowering the number of aircraft allowed to depart, arrive or transit per hour. In more extreme cases, such as drone sightings or nearby lightning strikes, a “Rate Zero” measure can briefly halt arrivals and departures altogether until the airspace is declared safe.
These restrictions are designed to prioritize safety in the most demanding phases of flight, particularly take-off and landing. Thunderstorms can bring severe turbulence, wind shear, hail and lightning, all of which can be hazardous to aircraft. Controllers may hold flights on the ground, reroute traffic around active storm cells or order go-arounds when conditions deteriorate suddenly on final approach.
Air traffic management during storms has come under scrutiny in Spain following internal reports that questioned staffing decisions during a major storm affecting Valencia in late 2024. A critical safety report linked to that episode highlighted concerns over cost-driven decisions to transfer certain flow-control tasks from Palma’s tower to Madrid at a time when both the mainland and Balearic regions were under weather alerts. Although no serious incidents were recorded, the debate has sharpened focus on resource levels and redundancy in air traffic control during increasingly volatile weather patterns.
For Palma’s passengers, the practical effect of these protocols can be frustrating: long queues, tarmac waits and irregular operations. For airlines and authorities, however, the calculus remains unambiguous. Flights can be recovered, but an accident would inflict lasting damage on confidence in Balearic tourism. Safety remains the non-negotiable priority.
Construction, Drainage and the Push to Weather-Proof the Terminal
At the same time as storm patterns have intensified, Palma de Mallorca Airport has been undergoing one of the largest renovation programs in its history. A multi-hundred-million-euro modernization project is transforming security areas, boarding modules, passenger flows and commercial zones, with the goal of boosting capacity and comfort ahead of coming summer seasons.
The works have inevitably complicated storm management. During the 2024 flooding incident, Aena acknowledged that uncompleted drainage systems on under-construction roofs allowed water to enter the building. Since then, the operator has said it has completed critical drainage in vulnerable areas and reinforced coordination with regional water and infrastructure agencies to improve runoff management around the airport’s perimeter.
In late 2025, construction shifted focus to the right-hand side of the main check-in area, which has been taken out of service for several months. That closure has required temporary passenger routes within the terminal, making it more challenging to redirect travelers quickly when storms hit or certain piers are temporarily closed. The airport has attempted to offset that complexity by opening an expanded and more efficient central security zone, including new scanning technology that allows passengers to leave electronics and liquids inside cabin baggage, reducing bottlenecks at peak times.
Officials involved in the modernization insist that the remaining works should have limited impact on travelers once key boarding areas and walkways are completed. However, until the project is fully finished, the combination of building sites, temporary layouts and storm-sensitive drainage will continue to demand careful contingency planning whenever severe weather is forecast.
Tourism Stakes: How Storm Disruption Ripples Across the Balearics
The economic stakes behind Palma’s storm readiness are substantial. The Balearic Islands are among Europe’s most tourism-dependent regions, with Mallorca positioning itself as a year-round destination but still heavily concentrated in the late spring to early autumn months. During peak weeks, Palma handles thousands of flights connecting the island to major European source markets including Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Scandinavia.
Prolonged or repeated disruptions can quickly erode visitor confidence, particularly among short-stay holidaymakers and weekend city-break travelers who are less able to absorb lost days. Episodes of flooding and chaotic queues at the airport have drawn sharp criticism from local media and business associations, who warn that viral images of waterlogged terminals and stranded families undermine the islands’ carefully cultivated image as a safe and well-organized destination.
At the same time, tourism officials are balancing different pressures. The Balearic government has been pursuing policies to manage visitor numbers and protect sensitive coastal areas, responding to concerns over crowding and environmental degradation. Reliable yet controlled connectivity through Palma Airport forms a central pillar of that strategy. Weather-related interruptions, if poorly managed, risk sending a signal of fragility rather than responsible stewardship.
So far, passenger numbers suggest that demand remains robust. Despite the weather incidents and construction-related inconvenience, Palma closed 2025 with passenger traffic slightly higher than the previous year, driven primarily by growth on international routes. Tour operators and airlines continue to expand seasonal capacity on key leisure links, betting that infrastructure upgrades and operational refinements will make the airport more resilient to future storms.
What Storm-Season Travelers Need to Know Before Flying
For travelers planning trips to Mallorca, recent events at Palma Airport point to several practical lessons about flying during periods of unsettled weather. The first is temporal: many of the most disruptive storms have struck overnight or in the early hours, triggering a cascade of delays that can last well into the day. Early-morning departures may face knock-on effects from overnight weather, while afternoon services can be impacted by new storm cells building over the mainland or western Mediterranean.
Second, disruptions are not always obvious from the terminal itself. Because key constraints often arise from saturated or storm-affected airspace sectors far from Mallorca, conditions can appear deceptively calm at Palma even as flights stack up on approach or sit on the apron awaiting departure slots. Passengers may confront what looks like a mismatch between the clear skies they see and the delays they experience.
Third, the interaction between storms and heavy summer traffic amplifies the impact of even modest reductions in capacity. When the airport is already operating close to its hourly limits, each go-around, diversion or extended routing consumes precious time and resources. Crew duty limits, aircraft rotations and slot allocations then become secondary bottlenecks, especially for carriers operating multiple daily rotations between Palma and busy hubs.
While airlines and airport authorities stress that safety decisions will not be compromised for punctuality, they also acknowledge the importance of clearer communication. In past episodes of flooding and lengthy delays, passengers have complained of limited or confusing updates. Authorities now face mounting pressure from both local government and industry partners to offer more consistent real-time information in multiple languages when weather disrupts operations.
Balearic Tourism Braces for a More Volatile Climate
Looking ahead, few in the Balearic tourism and aviation sectors expect storms to become less of a concern. Climate projections for the Mediterranean suggest an environment of hotter summers and potentially more intense short-duration rainfall events, the kind that can overwhelm drainage and trigger flash flooding. For an island economy so dependent on its main airport, adapting infrastructure and procedures to this new normal has become a strategic priority.
At Palma, that adaptation is taking multiple forms. Physical measures include upgraded drainage systems inside and outside the terminal, more robust roofing and waterproofing of renovated areas, and systems to monitor and manage water flow during downpours. Operationally, there is a push toward closer coordination between Aena, Enaire, Aemet and local emergency services, with an emphasis on early-warning mechanisms and flexible staffing when red or orange weather alerts are issued.
In the tourism sector, hotels, tour operators and local authorities are integrating storm contingencies into their own planning. That ranges from more flexible check-in and check-out policies when flights are heavily delayed, to reinforced transport arrangements for stranded passengers, and clearer guidance for visitors unfamiliar with Mediterranean storm behavior. The objective is to ensure that, even when flights are disrupted, the overall visitor experience remains manageable rather than chaotic.
For now, Palma de Mallorca Airport’s recent record shows both the vulnerabilities and the strengths of a major tourism hub confronting a stormier climate. Weather and construction have combined to create moments of severe strain, yet traffic growth and continued airline investment suggest confidence that the airport can adapt. As the Balearic Islands prepare for upcoming high seasons, the resilience of Son Sant Joan in the face of storms will remain a central factor in safeguarding the region’s tourism lifeline.