A major power outage hit Spain and Portugal yesterday, plunging both countries into chaos with ongoing travel delays. The incident has affected all aspects of transport, with subway networks, traffic lights and airports reporting failures and cancellations. Flights across both countries, inbound and outbound, have been delayed by the outage over the past 24 hours. AENA, which manages 46 airports in Spain, reported flight disruptions around the country yesterday.
However, Portugal's airport operator, ANA, announced that airports had emergency generators, which now allow essential services to continue across Porto and Faro airports. "In Lisbon, operations are ongoing but with limitations. So far, there have been no impacts on Madeira and Azores airports," it said. In Spain, AENA confirmed that Madrid's Barajas Airport has been hit the hardest, with ongoing flight cancellations and delays. The website currently says: "Due to the power outage, some incidents are occurring at the airports. Contingency generators are active. Please check with your airline, as there may be disruptions to access and ground transportation."
However, flights are now leaving London airports for destinations in Spain. Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted all advertise a service of close to normal on their websites, with only a few delays to Spain.
This morning, Jet2 released the following update: “On 28th April there was an electrical power outage which affected Mainland Spain and Portugal. Our teams have been closely monitoring the impact of this, and at present, all Jet2.com flights are operating as normal today (29th April).
"Should there be any changes, we will provide further updates here and we will be in contact with you via SMS and email.”
EasyJet’s latest update, as of yesterday evening, said: “Many of our flights are still operating as planned. If you are due to travel today or tomorrow, please go to Flight Tracker on the easyJet app or online to check your flight status before you leave for the airport.
“If you're leaving the Spanish or Portuguese mainland today and have missed your flight or can't reach the airport due to the power outage, don’t worry. We can arrange a free of charge transfer to an alternative easyJet flight that departs within 72 hrs of your original flight, or a flight voucher for the value of your flight booking - if you wish to delay your plans.”
“Due to a general power outage affecting Spain and Portugal today Mon 28 April, we are monitoring delays/cancellations for flights operating to/from Spain and Portugal. Affected passengers will be notified via email.
We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of this power outage, which is outside of our control.”
All flights to Spain and Portugal from the UK are running on time.
