The travel disruption caused by today’s mass power blackout across vast parts of the Iberian peninsula is likely to continue for many more hours and well into tomorrow, with passengers being urged to check with their airlines for updates if flying in to or out of Spain and Portugal today.
Widespread flight delays have already been seen, although very few actual cancellations have been reported. One forecast has it that the backlog of delays will last for at least another 10 hours.
Major Iberian airports – including Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Porto, Seville and Valencia – have been affected.
While Spain’s grid operator Red Eléctrica and its Portuguese counterpart, E-REDES are working to restore full-scale power, much of both countries’ basic infrastructure is in chaos – from hospitals and homes to traffic lights and public transport.
More than 3,000 flights were scheduled to depart Spanish airports today, with 709 set to leave Portugal. In Madrid, alone, around 50 departures and 30 arrivals were delayed as of mid-afternoon.
