in 2023, more than 11 million passengers were affected by disruptions to flights leaving Portugal, which represents 36% of the more than 32 million who travelled from Portugal.

“Taking into account these numbers, more than 770,000 passengers became eligible to obtain compensation, in accordance with EC Regulation 261/2004”.

In addition to Portugal, flight disruptions were common throughout last year, with it being found that there were problems on more than five million flights originating in a European country, “which means that more than 750 million passengers flew from of European airports”.

According to AirHelp, the numbers for last year reflect “an increase of more than 100 million travellers” compared to the previous year, with the company that defends the rights of air passengers indicating that “more than 230 million passengers had problems with the schedule of their flights and 15 million saw their flights cancelled.”

As a result of these disruptions, 17 million passengers who flew from European airports in 2023 are entitled to financial compensation under EC261, which regulates flights departing from the EU,” adds AirHelp.

By country, Malta topped the list of countries with the most passengers affected by delays and cancellations, with AirHelp highlighting that “more than three million passengers passed through this European country and only 60% were able to enjoy their flight without incident”.

Second place in this ranking went to Turkey, which had more than two million passengers, of which 61% experienced some type of disruption on their flight, while in third place was Portugal.