A sweeping power outage brought Spain and Portugal to a standstill Monday, halting trains and causing major disruption at airports.
At midnight, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared a state of emergency, which is still in place today.
Electricity was restored in more areas overnight with Red Eléctrica, a partly state-owned body that operates Spain’s national grid, reporting that 99.16 per cent of power had been returned to the country this morning. Portugal has now fully recovered from the blackout, according to the government.
Though power has now been restored in many places, the lingering effects of the outage are still having some impact on travel in both Spain and Portugal. Here’s what travellers need to know about train services and flight operations in Spain and Portugal today.
Are flights still delayed at Spanish and Portuguese airports?
The power outage sparked mayhem at airports in Spain and Portugal on Monday. There were no complete closures as airports were operating on backup generators.
While power has now been restored, knock-on effects from yesterday’s cancelled and delayed flights mean the disruption is ongoing this morning.
In a post on X, Aena, the company that runs 56 airports in Spain, said all airports remain operational this morning.
“We recommend that passengers check the status of public transportation services arriving at the airports and consult with their airline about their flight status regarding possible rescheduling from yesterday,” the group added.
“Tonight, airports have adjusted their schedules to the needs of rescheduled passengers, and there have been no significant crowds in the terminals.”
Enaire, Spain’s air navigation manager, has said that air traffic control has returned to normal this morning at the three control centres affected by the power outage: Madrid, Barcelona and Seville.
Despite this, many flights from Madrid, Barcelona and Seville are cancelled or delayed this morning as services return to normal. Enaire is advising passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline before they travel to the airport.
In Portugal, the government has announced that all airports are now operating, although some recovery efforts are still underway in Lisbon.
A number of arrivals and departures from Lisbon airport have been cancelled this morning, and most are operating with delays. The airport operator is advising passengers to contact their airline before heading to the airport.
What are my rights if my flight was cancelled or delayed?
In total, there were 413 cancellations to and from Spain and 372 to and from Portugal yesterday, according to aviation analysts Cirium. But many of these were flights between the two countries, meaning they were double-counted in this total.
It is thought that around 500 flights across the two countries were scrapped on Monday due to the outage.
Lisbon was worst affected with 45 per cent of departures grounded. Seville saw a third of departures cancelled, while Madrid and Barcelona each had around 50 departing flights cancelled.
If you were affected by the disruption, you may be entitled to compensation as part of the ‘Denied Boarding Regulations’, according to Ernesto Suarez, CEO of travel insurance company Gigasure.
Depending on your circumstances, you may receive some money for alternative travel arrangements, food, and accommodation if necessary.
“As the disruption has been caused by circumstances outside of the airline’s control, passengers may not get any compensation directly from the operator,” Suarez says.
“Those with travel insurance may have some financial protection if all, or part of, their trip is delayed, cancelled, or cut short due to the power outage. If the customer bought extended travel disruption cover, they may be covered for travel delay, abandoning or cutting short their trip and/or additional costs if they have to move accommodation or extend their stay.”
If passengers have already travelled and cannot return due to the power outages, many travel insurance policies will continue to provide cover until you can return at no additional charge, Suarez adds.
If you have extended travel disruption cover, you may also be entitled to compensation that covers any additional travel and accommodation costs until you can return, subject to your policy terms, conditions and exclusions.
EasyJet offers stranded passengers free-of-charge transfers
EasyJet released a statement yesterday saying that the blackout was impacting access to some airports and affecting its flight operations in Lisbon, Madrid and Barcelona.
“Like all airlines, we are experiencing some disruption to our flying programme meaning that some return flights from Lisbon and Madrid have been unable to operate,” the airline said. “Our flying programme at Porto and Faro airports is operating as planned.”
The airline urged passengers to monitor local travel advice and flight trackers for updates.
They also say passengers in Spain or Portugal who are unable to travel are being provided with free-of-charge transfers within 72 hours or a flight voucher, according to the BBC.
Train networks in Spain and Portugal are slowly returning to normal
Train services in both countries were thrown into chaos yesterday, with the power outage still impacting rail services today.
Emergency services in Spain said that they had rescued around 35,000 passengers stranded on railways and metro systems on Monday when trains were brought to a standstill. Many commuters resorted to hitchhiking home or walking for hours.
Spanish rail operator Renfe has said that urban train services in Madrid will operate at 50 per cent of capacity today.
High-speed and long-distance services between Madrid and Barcelona, Valencia, Murcia, Alicante, the Basque Country and Algeciras have all resumed normal operation.
That said, there are reports of chaos and long queues at stations as passengers whose trains were cancelled attempt to board alternative services or rebook tickets.
Trains from Madrid to Huelva, Cadiz, Salamanca, Badajoz and Galicia remain cancelled until further notice, however.
Crowds crammed onto platforms as Madrid and Lisbon metros resume operations
Metro services in Madrid also resumed a partial service at 8:00 am this morning, with around 80 per cent of trains set to run during rush hour.
“Metro de Madrid is starting to run at 8:00 am throughout the network, except Line 7A,” Isabel Díaz Ayuso, President of the Community of Madrid, wrote on X.
“Eighty percent of the trains will be running during a normal morning rush hour.
“All the lines of EMTmadrid and Interurbanos are 100% operational and will be free throughout the day.
“The six transport interchanges in the region remain open as normal.”
Barcelona metro has also reopened with services “getting back to normal”, according to local authorities.
After many spent a rough night stuck on trains or sleeping in stations, there are likely to be long queues and much confusion as people attempt to make their way home.
Portugal’s rail network was also hit by the blackout, but travellers were already braced for disruption due to a national strike, which saw train services suspended on Monday anyway. The government has said that power has now been returned to the national transport network.
Lisbon and Porto’s metro systems are back up and running, with some minor delays.
Although there were outages in some parts of France, too, trains don’t seem to have been affected.
“In France, homes were without power for several minutes in the Basque Country. All power has since been restored,” said RTE, the French electricity operator.
