Lisbon delays on Thursday, 16 March 2023
Eurocontrol logged 1,476 minutes of air-traffic arrival delay at Lisbon that day across 38 arrivals held 15 minutes or more out of 284 (13% of the day's arrivals), with 53% of the delay attributed to airspace management.
Eurocontrol record · LPPT · 2023-03-16
Delay codes are Eurocontrol's IATA-standard causes. 100% of this day's delay sits in categories airlines usually plead as extraordinary circumstances.
Were you on a flight that day?
What this means if your flight was late
Under UK261 and EU261 you are owed £220, £350 or £520 (or €250, €400, €600) per passenger for arriving three hours or more late, unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures. Airport-wide records like this one are the airline's favourite evidence, and they cut both ways.
- Expect the airline to cite airspace management. That is a real argument on this day, but it only covers delay actually caused by it. The airline must show the link to your flight and that it had reserve time and spare aircraft in place (Eglītis v Air Baltic). A flight that left late because the inbound aircraft was stuck on a technical fault is compensable whatever the weather did.
- Cancelled that day? Compensation depends on notice: under 14 days and no close re-routing means it is due, subject to the same extraordinary-circumstances test. You are always owed a refund or re-routing and care while you wait.
- Delayed under three hours? No fixed compensation, but food, drink and communications were owed after two hours on a short flight, and reasonable expenses are recoverable.
The free check pulls your flight's own record (actual arrival time against schedule) and pairs it with this day's data, so the verdict and the letter are specific to your flight, not to the airport.
Other airports the same day
| Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen | 1,003 min | Weather |
| Cannes Mandelieu | 519 min | ATC capacity |
| Barcelona | 354 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Luxembourg | 315 min | ATC equipment |
| Vienna | 283 min | ATC staffing |
| Amsterdam Schiphol | 243 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International | 222 min | ATC capacity |
| Paris Orly | 146 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Hatay | 106 min | Other |
Other bad days at Lisbon
| 23 December 2019 | 16,770 min | Weather |
| 18 October 2022 | 11,485 min | Special event |
| 8 August 2019 | 10,981 min | Weather |
| 17 November 2023 | 10,765 min | Weather |
| 19 October 2022 | 10,630 min | Special event |
| 13 January 2020 | 10,347 min | Weather |
| 3 January 2019 | 9,412 min | Weather |
| 7 November 2022 | 9,307 min | Weather |
Questions
My flight from Lisbon on 16 March 2023 was delayed. Can I claim compensation?
If you arrived at your final destination 3 hours or more late, the starting position is £220 to £520 per passenger depending on distance. The airline can refuse only by proving extraordinary circumstances that affected your specific flight. On this day Eurocontrol attributed 100% of Lisbon's air-traffic delay to airspace management and weather, so expect that argument; it still has to be linked to your flight. Run the free check on your flight number for the verified answer.
Was the Lisbon disruption on 16 March 2023 caused by weather?
Partly or wholly: 47% of the 1,476 logged minutes were coded as weather. The airport's own weather observations that day show no significant phenomena, lowest visibility 4506 m and strongest gust none reported kt.
Does a bad day at Lisbon mean every delayed flight is exempt from compensation?
No. Air-traffic delay attributed to an airport explains some of the day's lateness, not all of it, and it is the airline that must prove your flight's delay was caused by it and could not have been avoided with reasonable measures such as schedule buffers and spare aircraft. Flights delayed by a technical fault, crew shortage or a late inbound aircraft from an unaffected airport are compensable regardless of what happened at Lisbon.
Sources: Eurocontrol Performance Review Unit, airport arrival ATFM delay by cause (daily); METAR observations via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive. This page describes the airport's day; your flight's own record decides your claim. All Lisbon delay days.