Palma Mallorca floods: Plane aborts landing at Palma Airport as floods hit popular holiday destination in Spain

A video shared on X, formerly Twitter, has surfaced showing an aircraft aborting landing at Palma Airport in Mallorca, Spain, after heavy rain and floods hit the popular holiday destination. The storm hit the hotspot yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 11 June) affecting hundreds of flights and passengers.

A weather station at the airport in the capital Palma recorded rainfall of nearly 5cm (2in) per hour, peaking at up to 9cm (3.5in) in less than an hour. Operations were suspended after being “severely affected” by the heavy storm, affecting an estimated 100 flights.

The airport said that a “large number” of flights were cancelled or delayed due to the adverse weather conditions. Incoming flights were diverted as Palma Airport was “unable to accommodate them safely”. 

On X, FL360aero, shared a video of a plane trying to land at Palma Airport in the midst of heavy rain and flooding on the runway. The aircraft quickly aborted the landing and took off again.

FL360aero wrote: “An aircraft aborts its landing due to heavy rain at Palma airport. The storm that hit the Palma airport this Tuesday left hundred flights affected between diversions and cancellations, according to Aena.

“According to data from the State Meteorological Agency in the Balearic Islands (Aemet), 43.8 liters per square meter have fallen at Palma airport in just one hour.” 

Aena, the operator of Palma de Mallorca Airport, confirmed there was flooding in some entrances to the facility and in the terminal building. It said in a statement: "Palma de Mallorca Airport has temporarily paralysed operations due to the impact of a strong storm, due to the impossibility of operating safely."

Services at the airport have since resumed as the rain subsided. An emergency plan was activated in response to the crisis as the airport faced “significant challenges” affecting operations, access and infrastructure.