Tens of thousands stranded in Spain-Portugal blackouts

After the power outage around noon on Monday hobbled airports, airlines and air traffic control systems in Spain and Portugal, the final flight cancellation count has been announced by aviation analysts Cirium.

- SIMON CALDER TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT

Passengers travelling to, from and within Spain encountered 413 cancellations, while the score for Portugal is 372. But because many of those are links between the two countries, and are therefore “double counted”, The Independent believes the true total is around 500 – affecting an estimated 80,000 passengers.

The worst affected airport was Lisbon, with 45 per cent of departures grounded. Next was Seville, where one-third of departing flights were cancelled. In absolute terms, though, Madrid and Barcelona were the Spanish cities with the highest number of cancellations – around 50 at each.