Brits diverted as Ibiza airport floods and Palma delays build with more rain to come

Passengers flying into Ibiza on Sunday morning were turned away to other airports as a flooded runway and a leaking terminal shut the island’s airport for almost three hours. Now Palma, already running late, is bracing for rain that’s on it’s way and hasn’t reached Mallorca yet.

Ibiza’s airport was out of action from around 9.15am

Torrential rain from the DANA storm Adam flooded the runway at Ibiza airport on Sunday October 18, with air traffic controllers saying the airport was “not operational” and that they were handling “mass diversions” to other airports. They asked passengers for a lot of patience. 

Diversions ran from 9.15am until around midday, when operations restarted at a reduced pace. However, controllers warned it will take a long time for the airport to get back to normal because of the delays that have built up.

Spain’s airport operator Aena hasn’t published a full count of affected flights yet. Flight-tracking data reported by La Voz de Ibiza showed 17 inbound flights diverted by 1.17pm, including services from Manchester, Newcastle and London Stansted among the affected.

A further 15 flights were cancelled and 53 delayed, with an average delay of 84 minutes, out of 288 operations planned for the day.

Water was coming through the terminal roof too

Photos and videos from travellers showed leaks in several parts of the terminal, with staff cordoning off the affected areas and putting bins under the drips. The covered area outside the building flooded as well, and the airport road was closed in both directions at the Playa d’en Bossa roundabout. 

Eivissa "hidroport" pic.twitter.com/mov1lYemFK

— Joan Tur (@joanturrebassa) October 18, 2026

The airport’s weather station recorded 101.9 litres of rain per square metre by midday, according to provisional figures from Aemet (Spain’s weather agency), with most of it falling between 9am and noon. Ibiza and Formentera were under a red alert until 2pm, which has now dropped to orange until 2pm on Monday. 

Palma was already running late before the rain fell 

Over on Mallorca, widespread delays had already built up at Palma airport by Sunday morning, although Aena wouldn’t say how many flights were affected or how long passengers were waiting.

Air traffic controllers said Sunday would be another difficult day after a tough Saturday, with the weather forcing restrictions on traffic to keep flights safe. This means that planes heading through the affected airspace are held on the ground until they’re given a take-off slot by Eurocontrol. 

The heaviest rain is yet to come though. Aemet’s orange warning covers the south and east of Mallorca from 6pm on Sunday and the whole island from midnight, with between 100 and 140 litres per square metre possible in 12 hours.

Check before you head to the airport

With the orange alert in Ibiza lasting until 2pm on Monday October 19 and Mallorca’s due to run until midday that day, more disruption is possible at both airports. Anyone due to fly to or from either island should check their flight status with their airline before setting off, as delays are likely to keep rolling into Monday.