Power Outage in Spain and Portugal Causes Major Travel Disruptions, Including at Madrid Airport

Update April 29, 1:05 p.mm. EST:

According to the Consul for Tourism Affairs at the Embassy of Spain in Canada:

“At the moment, the train service is almost fully operational, and the electricity is functioning at 99%. There may still be some restrictions today, but if everything goes well, I believe it will be fully restored by tomorrow.”

Original article:

A major power outage in Spain and Portugal is impacting millions of people, and disrupting travel in both countries, on Monday.

News outlets, including The Associated Press, are reporting that people in Barcelona, Lisbon and other cities on the Iberian Peninsula were without power Monday. The cause of the outage has not been confirmed, though one Portuguese power company told Expresso, a local media outlet, that it is due to an issue with “the European electricity system” and that some in France were also impacted.

Other outlets are reporting from locals on the ground that the outage is causing major issues in Barcelona, including halting trains and elevators around the city.

Red Eléctrica, the company that operates the Spanish power grid, said it was working to restore power. Spain’s prime minister and energy minister are reportedly on their way to Red Eléctrica’s Barcelona headquarters to monitor the situation.

Madrid’s Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD), the busiest air hub on the peninsula, is also reportedly without power, according to El Mundo. Heavy flight disruptions are expected at the airport, which said in a statement that “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.”

The status of other major airports remains unclear, though delays are piling up at Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN). According to Flight Radar, over 75% of Monday’s flights are currently delayed, and that number could continue to grow as disruptions snowball. The same situation is unfolding at Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS), with close to 75% of departures delayed, also according to Flight Radar.

Renfe, the national rail operator in Spain, confirmed the outage and its impact in a statement at 12:30 p.m. local time Monday.

“At 12:30 p.m., the entire national electricity grid was cut off. Trains stopped and there were no departures at any station,” the statement said.

According to Central Holidays, “local transportation via bus or cars was the least affected, especially private vehicle services which we use for our clients. However, traffic jams due to affected traffic signals has been an issue.  So, measures to pick up travelers going to the airports ahead of scheduled time have been taken. Trains which are a big part of daily life in these countries were and are still greatly affected.” 

Two Holland America Line ships called in Lisbon as scheduled today and tours are running “for the most part,” a spokesperson told TMR. “They have Euros on the ship so people could get cash if they needed.”

Three Costa ships also made their planned calls to Barcelona (Costa Fascinosa and Costa Fortuna) and Valencia (Costa Pacifica) as scheduled, with most tours able to operate normally.

This story is updating, check back for updates.