Flying Into Madeira is Harrowing – Be Prepared for This One

The Landing is Harrowing to Say the Least

We’ve flown into (and out of) some pretty harrowing airports around the world, like Lukla’s airport in Nepal for the Everest Base Camp Trek (and its notorious slope!) as well as Easter Island (which is considered to be the most remote airport in the world by distance to another airport). But Madeira’s Funchal airport may be up there as one of the scariest, albeit for different reasons.

Why? Planes fly towards the island’s mountains and make a 90 degree bank to land on the runway.

Oh, and by the way, the landing strip is built out over the highway and ends at… the ocean. (If you’re afraid of flying, perhaps don’t read into more about why it was extended- just saying.)

I hadn’t realized just how extreme this landing maneuver was until flying in ourselves and feeling the plane bank upon approach, and I have to admit, I am rather glad I did not read anymore about it.

Perhaps that is all there is to say here- it is quite an unsettling landing; however, takeoff is pretty straightforward, so there is at least that!

There is Windy, and There is Madeira Windy

Much like the extreme orientation of the airport for landing, Madeira is also one very windy island. Very, very windy.

In fact, it may be the second windiest place we’ve ever been to next to the extreme southern tip of South America at Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego- there were some places that we hiked to that were so windy we couldn’t even stand up straight.

Given that Madeira is located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, it should be no surprise that the island is prone to significant winds and, during our visit at least, we felt the most extreme winds while hiking Vereda da Ponta de Sao Lorenco. You’ll probably not be shocked to find out that this popular hiking trail is located, you guessed it, pretty close to the airport!

So not only do planes have to deal with the extreme bank when coming in for a landing, they also have to manage some fairly windy conditions!

Be Prepared for Possible Delays

Suffice it to say, given modern safety standards and the risks associated with flying into Madeira in poor weather, flights are prone to being delayed significantly, diverted to the mainland or another nearby island, or canceled outright.

When we visited, we were fortunate that our flights from/to mainland Portugal did not have any issues dealing with the wind (partly because we got lucky on conditions at our exact flight times). But we also had heard stories of other flights getting significantly delayed or canceled during the days we were on the island.

For example, the prior guests to our Airbnb in Camara de Lobos had a flight outbound to Germany, and the flight was delayed for at least four days per our host. They were due to fly out the day we checked in, and when we departed and flew out, they were still waiting on a flight to be rescheduled. I honestly don’t know how much longer they had to wait.

Although it would be safe to say that Madeira can be windy at any and all times (which is true), it seems like summer may have slightly calmer weather which, for the island, is still relative. It is because of this that we highly advocate not only to have more days booked on the island in case you get delayed inbound, but also more time at any connecting points returning home, too (we had two days in Lisbon on our way back before heading home to the USA, and honestly probably should’ve had more just in case- missing our return flight home could’ve been an expensive issue).

It may be a gut feel here to say this next bit, but we might also feel more comfortable booking a flight on a plane directly from mainland Portugal over routes that would travel further distances (such as from the USA or mainland Europe). We’re not sure if this could be plane related (i.e. size) or just simple chance, but anecdotally we saw flights from the mainland having a bit more success landing than from elsewhere in our limited sampling of delays vs on-time landings. (Take that with a grain of salt, however.)

Still, no matter what, you may have weather delays when flying into and out of Madeira, so err on the side of caution and book more time if possible, and don’t stack any must-do experiences on your first couple of days just to be safe.

Plan accordingly for this, and you’re going to have a wonderful time on one of the most beautiful islands in the world!

Did the weather impact your flights into/out of Madeira at all? Comment below to share!