At least 6,000 passengers who were supposed to travel to the UK from Tenerife yesterday (Monday) have not been able to do so due to the failure of the air traffic control system which has resulted in 500 cancelled flights, delays, and general disruption.
A total of 38 flights were cancelled in and out of Tenerife South Airport, 13 flights were affected in Lanzarote, 15 in Gran Canaria, and another six in Fuerteventura, and even though the problem was resolved at around 3pm yesterday afternoon in the UK, there are still more delays and cancellations as planes were all out of sync with the locations, they were supposed to be in.
This has meant that thousands of people have had to be relocated to other flights, which led to more chaos that was replicated throughout Europe.
One of the main tour operators for the British market in Tenerife, Jet2, confirmed that, in their case, 16 flights with some three or four thousand passengers were affected in Tenerife South, although they have managed to relocate them and believe that they will all depart at some time during today.
Others will have to wait for their airlines to find alternatives for them on other flights, and some tourists were even looking for the impossible last night, somewhere to stay in the South in until their flight leaves.
Because of this, the Red Cross, set up 50 beds last night at the Tenerife South airport for those who were going to be stranded the longest. AENA also provided blankets and water to those who were at its facilities.
