Power Outage Causes Over 60 Flight Delays at Alicante-Elche Airport

On Monday, April 28, a tense day unfolded in Alicante and across Spain. At 12:30 PM, a widespread blackout caught most Spaniards by surprise. The power outage left the entire peninsula without electricity, with only the islands remaining unaffected.

Transport was one of the most affected sectors. Trains and trams stopped operating in Alicante due to the lack of electricity, while traffic jams were significant due to non-functioning traffic lights. This forced the local police in Alicante and other municipalities to deploy at critical traffic points to prevent accidents.

Although Alicante-Elche Airport operated relatively normally, the blackout also disrupted the schedules of many passengers and the terminal itself, which reduced its operational capacity for safety reasons. Shortly after the blackout, airport operator Aena announced that its airports were operational with contingency electrical systems, warning that "the impact on flights will depend on the difficulties passengers and crews face in reaching the airport." Now, a day after the historic event, air restrictions due to the power outage have eased, and airports are operating normally.

However, Monday was tumultuous for many passengers at the Alicante terminal. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, announced general restrictions of 20% capacity on routes to facilitate arrivals at airports, which could be reduced by up to 50% in northern airports. In Alicante, arrivals operated normally without delays.

The situation was worse for departures, where the delay rate was higher. According to 'Flight Radar', about 63 flights were delayed, accounting for 35% of those scheduled for Monday, while two flights were cancelled, one to Porto and another to Seville, both scheduled for the afternoon. Delays resulted in average waits of 40 minutes, although in some cases, flights were extended by up to three hours.

In this regard, Eurocontrol reported that Alicante-Elche Airport faced "moderate to high" delays during the day due to the airport's reduced air capacity by 20% because of the blackout. Minister Puente, who shared this information on social media, urged calm and noted that control towers are operating with generators that can last up to four days.