According to AirHelp data quoted by Diário de Notícias (DN), between January and September 187,000 flights departed from Portuguese airports, 36 per cent of which were irregular, an increase of 11% on the same period last year.

As a result, 9.5 million passengers were affected and 364,000 of them are entitled to compensation under European Regulation EC 261/2004, which provides for average compensation of €400 per person.

According to Executive Digest, lawyer Pedro Miguel Madaleno, a specialist in air passenger rights at AirHelp, points out that the situation at Lisbon airport is becoming increasingly serious, where 44.3% of flights were disrupted until September. “The significant increase in disruptions at Humberto Delgado airport has been driven by the enormous systemic pressure and labour problems at the country’s main gateway,” he explained, quoted by the same media outlet. The expert also emphasised the lack of staff in crews, handling and border control.

There have been slight improvements at Porto and Faro airports, with disruption rates falling to 29% and 20.8% respectively. The lawyer says that this “greater operational resilience” was due to lower traffic pressure and more efficient management capacity. Even so, Lisbon remains the epicentre of the difficulties, “unable to keep up with the increase in passenger volumes”.

In European terms, Portugal is the third country with the most passengers affected by disruptions, only behind Greece and Germany. Between January and September, 30.7% of flights operated at national airports were delayed or cancelled. In terms of airlines, TAP led the way with 42.9% of flights affected, followed by Ryanair and easyJet.