All flights due to take off or land at Ibiza airport on Sunday afternoon were delayed due to the incident involving the Institut Balear de la Natura (Ibanat) fire-fighting plane, which came to a halt on the edge of the Ibiza airport runway in the early afternoon, forcing operations at the Ibiza terminal to come to a standstill. The delay reached 18 hours in the case of the plane that was due to leave Ibiza for Paris at 15:30, and which was scheduled to depart at ten o’clock this morning. The flight from Ibiza to London scheduled for Sunday at 16.30 has also suffered a delay of 19.30 hours, as it has been rescheduled for 12 noon today.
The aircraft was removed during the afternoon and air traffic was restored at 17.59 hours, Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (AENA) announced. However, throughout the afternoon all domestic and international flights due to take off and land in Ibiza were delayed. A flight from Munich that was due to arrive in Ibiza at 4.25 p.m. landed at 9.35 p.m., as did another from Palma, which was also delayed by five hours. A flight from Edinburgh that was due to arrive at 8 p.m. landed at es Codolar at midnight. On the other hand, a flight from Paris that was supposed to land on Sunday night at 11 p.m. will finally land this Monday at 11 a.m., as well as another one coming from Rome, which was supposed to land at Ibiza airport at midnight and is scheduled to arrive this morning at 11.55 a.m.
Domestic flights were also affected, such as the flight from Alicante to Ibiza, which was delayed from 16:55 hours to 18:20 hours, another from Valencia, which was due to arrive on the island at 23:00 hours and finally arrived at 23:45 hours and another from Barcelona.
Flights taking off from Ibiza airport also suffered delays, such as the one that was due to leave for Valencia at 11pm and finally did so at 00.42am and another to London that was due to leave at 9.50pm and took off at 01.35am.
In total, 17 flights were diverted, four to Valencia, five to Barcelona and eight to Son Sant Joan airport in Mallorca. Likewise, the incident implied the cancellation of 22 connections with the airport of es Codolar, twelve related to departures and ten to arrivals to the Ibizan terminal.
The Ibanat celebrated on its social networks that the pilot of the aircraft did not suffer any damage during the landing, and noted that the aircraft will soon be operational again.
The plane will be operational again. Thanks to all those who have contributed to report the incident.
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