Spain-Portugal power outage: Flights to Dublin cancelled as exact cause of blackout unknown

Tomas Doherty

A huge power outage in Spain and Portugal has paralysed traffic and grounded flights, leaving electricity operators scrambling to restore service to millions of homes and businesses.

The outage has also hit airport operations in Ireland, with a number of flights to Dublin cancelled or delayed.

Dublin Airport's operator DAA said the facility was running as normal on Monday evening but the situation in Spain and Portugal had impacted on flight schedules.

"As of 4pm, two inbound flights from Lisbon to Dublin and one outbound flight from Dublin to Lisbon have been cancelled," Graeme McQueen from DAA said.

"Further disruption over the remainder of the day is possible and, as always, engers should check directly with their airline for updates regarding their flight."

A source at Portugal's TAP Air said Lisbon airport was running on back-up generators, while AENA, which manages 46 airports in Spain, reported flight delays around the country.

The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands were unaffected by the power cuts, though airports in Spain's island regions may still suffer delays due to wider disruption in flight schedules.

The Irish embassies in Spain and Portugal urged people impacted by the power outage to follow the instructions of the local authorities.

The Embassy is aware of the widespread power outages across Spain and Andorra. Please follow the instructions of the local authorities. If you need emergency consular assistance, please DFAT on +353 1 408 2000.

— Ireland Embassy Madrid (@IrlEmbMadrid) April 28, 2025

The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said in a televised address on Monday evening that the exact cause of the power cut was still unknown and warned against speculation.

Witnesses said power had started returning to the Basque country and Barcelona areas of Spain in the early afternoon, a few hours after the outage began. It was not clear when power might be more widely restored.

In a video posted on X, Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida urged city residents to minimise their journeys and stay where they were, adding: "It is essential that the emergency services can circulate."

In Portugal, water supplier EPAL said water supplies could also be disrupted, and queues formed at stores by people rushing to purchase emergency supplies like gaslights, generators and batteries.

The main Portuguese electricity utility, EDP, said it had told customers it had no forecast for when the energy supply would be "normalised", Publico newspaper said. It warned it could take several hours.

Parts of also suffered a brief outage. RTE, the French grid operator, said it had moved to supplement power to some parts of northern Spain after the outage hit. – Additional reporting: Reuters