Storm Francis Causes Travel Chaos in Canaries
The storm named Francis is causing significant disruption to inter-island air travel across the Canary Islands. Heavy rain and strong winds on La Palma and El Hierro have left hundreds of passengers grounded right in the middle of the festive season. According to sources from the Spanish airport authority, Aena, a total of 13 flights have been affected, eleven of them on La Palma, where only six routes were able to operate on Friday.
Flights Diverted and Cancelled
The majority of the connections affected by the adverse weather are flights to and from Tenerife and Gran Canaria. One flight from the Netherlands also had to be diverted from Los Cancajos aerodrome on La Palma to Reina Sofía Airport in the south of Tenerife. To these, two further connections with El Hierro were added and ultimately cancelled: one with Tenerife and another with Gran Canaria.
Problems with connectivity at the La Palma aerodrome began yesterday, on New Year’s Day, and the situation worsened on 2 January. Specifically, six flights had to return to their airports of origin during the morning—two from Tenerife and one from Gran Canaria—while five other inter-island flights were cancelled. A flight from Amsterdam was also unable to land and was diverted to Tenerife South.
Passenger Frustration and Long Queues
The situation is causing long queues at Canary Islands airports, both on La Palma itself and at the airports on the two main islands. Passengers waiting in hope that their flight might depart are joined by those who have given up and are trying to change their tickets.
This is the case for Ana Alonso, a La Palma native who has lived in Tenerife for years and was due to travel to her homeland on 1 January to spend a few days with her family. It was not possible, and the young woman opted to return home to try again on Friday. “They told me it wasn’t going to depart, so I changed it for this Friday, hoping I could go,” explains Alonso, who found herself in the same situation upon arriving at Los Rodeos terminal on the morning of 2 January.
A Determined Journey Home by Sea
“After waiting for an hour, they notified us that it was cancelled,” she adds, before explaining that “the options were to change for another day or go by boat.” But Ana Alonso did not want to risk missing Three Kings’ Day with her family and “especially with the children,” she says, referring to her three nephews. Among them, the “special” case is the youngest: “He is only two years old and lives abroad, so we can see him very few times,” she explains before adding that “I wanted to leave today no matter what.”
This led to her deciding on the boat, a decision which for Alonso meant spending the entire day at Tenerife North Airport: “They have given us a meal voucher and are putting on a bus for us to the port of Los Cristianos,” she comments, while still hoping to reach La Palma tonight. However, she knows it will not be an easy journey.
Rough Seas and Ongoing Warnings
Storm Francis is also having consequences at sea. The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) maintains warnings for adverse coastal phenomena at least until Sunday. The heavy swell means the route between Tenerife and La Palma will be more treacherous than usual, although no cancellations of sailings have been reported so far.
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