The most recent episode of intense wind at Madeira International Airport – Cristiano Ronaldo led to the cancellation of 176 flights in just two days – Monday and Tuesday – a number that has raised several questions among passengers and citizens in general: was this the largest episode of weather-related cancellations recorded in the airport’s recent history, or have there been even more serious situations?
The recent episode of 176 cancellations in just two days – the day before yesterday and yesterday – at Madeira International Airport – Cristiano Ronaldo has raised questions about the scale of the impact. Was it truly unprecedented? A detailed analysis of news records from the last decade allows us to place this event in the historical context of the main meteorological constraints at the airport, especially those related to strong winds and atmospheric depressions.
At the start of this windy week, during the passage of Storm Regina, the airport recorded 84 cancelled flights in a single day out of 97 scheduled, including the entire TAP Air Portugal operation. Only half a dozen aircraft managed to land during the morning, highlighting the severity of the conditions. The Lisbon–Funchal route was the most affected: of the 22 scheduled flights by the three airlines — TAP, easyJet and Ryanair — only two easyJet Europe flights took place. Several planes had to divert to alternative airports, such as Porto Santo or the Canary Islands, while others returned to their origin. Between March 2nd and 3rd, 2026, a total of 176 cancellations were recorded over two days, affecting approximately 35,000 passengers, causing delays, diversions and logistical congestion on the island.
Despite its recent impact, this episode is not the most extreme of the last decade. In December 2025, Storm Emilia caused the greatest disruption recorded at the airport. On the Friday before Christmas, 76 of the 80 scheduled flights were cancelled, and on the following Saturday, of the 130 scheduled flights, 128 did not take place, totaling 185 accumulated cancellations in two days and affecting approximately 40,000 passengers. Gusts exceeding 100 km/h and average winds above 60 km/h hampered operations. Only two flights were carried out that Saturday: the Ryanair flight between Madeira and Dublin, which eventually took off at the end of the day. This episode demonstrates that there have been cases with numbers exceeding the recent 176 flights.
Other significant episodes show that, although rare, mass cancellations are recurrent. On March 25, 2024, the airport recorded 37 canceled flights in a single day due to strong winds. On May 9, 2023, approximately 46 accumulated cancellations over two days occurred during an episode of intense wind, affecting operations and passengers throughout the morning and afternoon. On March 15, 2022, during Storm Celia, 42 cancellations were recorded in a single day, mainly on Lisbon–Funchal and Porto–Funchal routes. And on January 7, 2021, 10 flights were canceled due to strong winds, primarily affecting departures and arrivals of TAP Air Portugal and Ryanair.
In previous years, records show that the airport faced more limited adverse weather conditions in terms of cancellations: in 2019, the day with the highest number of flights cancelled due to bad weather was December 5th, with only 8 flights cancelled; in 2018, March 3rd recorded 58 cancellations; and in 2017, during the period of August 6th and 7th, there were more than 100 accumulated cancellations over the weekend due to strong winds. The year 2020 was atypical: the Covid-19 pandemic drastically altered air operations, causing massive cancellations, but a large part of these were not related to weather conditions.
The numbers show that episodes of cancellations on two consecutive days with more than 100 flights cancelled are not unprecedented, although they are rare and exceptional. The recent record of 176 cancellations is high and significant, but still lower than the 185 cancellations recorded in December 2025 during Storm Emilia, which remains the largest episode of the last decade. The routes most historically affected were Lisbon–Funchal and Porto–Funchal, followed by some international connections, with thousands of passengers affected in each episode, aircraft diverted and operations suspended for hours.
The analysis also shows that, in each episode of intense wind or depression, the main factors influencing cancellations are gusts (well) above operational limits, which in most events exceed 100 km/h, high average wind speeds, and poor visibility, making air operations at Madeira airport particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events. Despite modernization and safety protocols, these factors continue to cause significant disruptions, especially during the winter and periods when Atlantic depressions pass through.