Around 12:30 p.m. local time on April 28, major power outages were reported across Spain, Portugal, Andorra and parts of France and Belgium. The outages have severely disrupted trains, airports, metro systems, hospitals, traffic signals and communications. Expect heavy traffic, widespread travel delays and a rise in opportunistic crime over the next 24 hours.
Lisbon appears to be hit the hardest. I checked Lisbon Airport’s real-time departures board (screenshot above) and linked below are real-time departures for the major airports affected:
United Airlines and other carriers have already issued travel waivers for April 28–29. If you want to avoid the chaos or postpone your trip, this is a great opportunity to do so. The waiver allows for voluntary changes to flights to, from or through the affected airports: Barcelona (BCN), Lisbon (LIS), Madrid (MAD), Porto (OPO).
🇵🇹 Scenes from Lisbon: Passengers are reportedly being forced to walk to the airport due to widespread power cuts. Watch the footage below.
🇵🇹 Passengers forced to walk to Lisbon airport amid huge power cuts
Follow the latest ⬇️https://t.co/LzwcEeh6uN pic.twitter.com/WdvhxIP34d
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 28, 2025
Another traveler criticized British Airways (see below) for directing passengers to Lisbon Airport despite it being inaccessible by car and lacking water, toilets and shade, while TAP advised passengers to stay away.
What possessed @British_Airways telling passengers to go to Lisbon airport. Can only be accessed on foot and airport is still closed. Thousands of people trying to stay in the shade with no water/toilets. TAP had the sense to tell passengers to stay away – no such luck from BA. pic.twitter.com/rsAVhq6Z7L
— Rachel Mortimer (@R_A_Mortimer) April 28, 2025
✈️ Madrid Airport: Immigration lines are massive at Madrid’s Barajas Airport. See video below.
✈️ EUROPEAN BLACKOUT: The impact of today’s blackouts in Spain is clear at Madrid’s Adolfo Suarez Madrid–Barajas Airport, with massive lines forming. https://t.co/t8cfZloH4m pic.twitter.com/dK6O0OCHzv
— FOX Weather (@foxweather) April 28, 2025
🚉 Train Chaos: Barcelona’s Sants Train Station was evacuated, and rail operations in Spain have been suspended. Airports in Madrid and Lisbon are also seeing major delays. Video below.
🚉 Sants train station in Barcelona evacuated after power cut across Portugal, Spain and Andorra, causes still unknown
🚟 Major travel disruption reported at airports, trains, metro and traffic lights
🪫 Some oil refineries also shut down pic.twitter.com/qv7wgePH5M
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) April 28, 2025
The good news: Power restoration efforts are underway but could take up to 10 hours. Here’s my advice on what to do when faced with significant delays and flight cancellations. Below is a photo of the last time I traveled through BCN, which was on an Air Canada from Toronto to Barcelona on a flight in June 2023.
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