Easter Sunday was certainly blowing in full force as two flights bound for Madeira Airport had to divert to Lanzarote and Tenerife South instead due to strong winds that reached speeds of up to 66 km/h (41 mph).
Unable to land
TUI fly (Germany) operated the first of the two flights. Flight number X3 2853 was its service from Dusseldorf to Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport in Madeira, which departed Germany at 06:35 and was due to land in Madeira at 09:10 yesterday morning.
Registered as D-AMAX, the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft had circled near Madeira Airport to wait out the strong winds. Unfortunately, it was eventually diverted to Arrecife Airport on the Canary island of Lanzarote, landing an hour after the decision to divert was made.
Having waited on the ground for around two hours, the 737 MAX took off from Arrecife to attempt another landing at Madeira. This time around, it was safe and successful, but it cost everyone onboard a total delay of four and a half hours.
A second diversion
Following closely behind the TUI fly aircraft was a Transavia France service, flight number TO 7690 from Paris Orly. Having departed Paris at just after 07:00 that morning, it was due to land at Funchal at 09:40. The flight was operated by a five year old Boeing 737-800, registered F-HTVD.
Like the TUI fly flight, the Transavia service circled for quite some time on the approach to Madeira, completing five full laps before deciding to divert. The landing was not attempted at all, and the aircraft headed straight for a diversion to Tenerife South instead.
Having spent just under three hours on the ground in Tenerife, the flight took off again for Madeira at 12:35 local time. It landed successfully in Funchal at 13:39, again around four hours later than the passengers expected to be there.
Known for its notorious weather
The Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport, more commonly known as Madeira Airport, is considered one of the world's more extreme airports.
Don't let the beautiful island scenery fool you, because being situated on high cliffs has disadvantages. With the airport's runway being somewhat exposed to the Atlantic Ocean, the northern wind constantly breaks off the cliffs and creates rather aggressive turbulence right above the runway.
Landing at Madeira Airport can be quite tricky as the airport experiences its fair share of crosswinds. Things can get dangerous quickly when strong wind currents are present, which also results in problems for landing aircraft.
This is generally when incoming flights will be diverted to other airports, including Porto Santo Island and the Canaries. Diversions can bring on additional problems of not having sufficient fuel to return, as flights from mainland Europe would have already been flying for about 4 to 6 hours.
In addition to the unfavorable winds, the island's mountainous areas sometimes paves the way for heavy rain that could be in the form of hail with thunderstorms as well.
Cancellations for the air and sea
With little notoriety for volatile weather, it wouldn't be surprising to learn that flight cancellations happen pretty often at the airport.
Last year on December 5th, approximately 13 departures had to be canceled due to powerful gusts that went up to 108 km/h (67 mph). And the most recent cancellations happened earlier this year in February, three flights operated by TAP Air Portugal and three other flights from Jet2.com had to be canceled due to strong winds.
It's not just flight cancellations that happen, unfortunately, as the volatile weather affects the sea. Scheduled cruises and ferries on the Porto Santo Line often face cancellations due to bad weather conditions that could jeopardize the safety of the ship and its passengers.
SOURCE: AVIATION24.BE