Passengers aboard a Eurowings flight bound for Mallorca experienced a brief moment of alarm on Monday as their aircraft performed a go-around manoeuvre just moments before landing at Palma Airport. The incident occurred as the plane was on its final approach to the island.
Despite initial assumptions, the crew's decision to abort the landing was not linked to the severe weather conditions that had been affecting the island. A German passenger, who was on board the flight, recounted the experience to our sister newspaper Mallorca Magazin, stating: "We could already see the ground, we were perhaps 100 metres above the ground." Instead of touching down, the captain initiated a climb, applying full thrust and circling back into the sky. A flight attendant promptly addressed the passengers, explaining in a calm tone that it was a purely routine safety measure and that everything was in order, which reportedly helped to alleviate tension among those on board.
The crew ultimately decided to abort the landing and execute a go-around for safety reasons, subsequently flying a holding pattern over Mallorca. Data from Flightradar24 confirmed that the Eurowings aircraft, flight number EW6803, turned east and completed a loop over the island. The captain later communicated the reason for the manoeuvre to passengers from the cockpit, clarifying that "The aircraft ahead of us was too late, it was said, so the safety distance could not be maintained."
The Eurowings flight had departed Dresden approximately 40 minutes behind schedule on Monday evening. While the journey itself had been uneventful despite the prevailing bad weather, the unexpected go-around added an unforeseen twist. An official explanation is still pending from Eurowings regarding the incident. Palma Airport had faced numerous flight delays and cancellations in the preceding days, impacting many connections to and from Germany, primarily due to the adverse weather conditions that had been battering the Balearic Islands since Saturday, 11th October 2024.