Dubai-Lisbon flights face disruptions due to Portugal power outage

Flights between Dubai and Lisbon have faced disruptions a day after a massive power outage hit large parts of Spain and Portugal impacting services at airports.

In a statement sent to ARN News, Emirates said it is "experiencing disruptions" to its services to and from Lisbon on Tuesday due to the "nationwide power outage in Portugal". 

The airline said "passengers on cancelled flights have been rebooked on the next available services". 

The Dubai carrier added that it is "closely monitoring the situation" and advised travellers to check its website for updates.

In a statement, Etihad Airways confirmed its services are running as normal. 

Operations at Lisbon's main airport was severely impacted due to the power outage. 

Speaking to ARN News, a Dubai resident was forced to find accommodation in Lisbon after his flight home on Monday was cancelled. 

Eoin Baillie, who works as a real estate director at XO, said he had to wait for two hours outside the airport before being informed of the power outage. He then waited at a local hotel nearby for another few hours before being informed that his flight was cancelled.  

"We've got a taxi into the centre of Lisbon, booked a hotel and we've turned up and there's no wi-fi, no power at the hotel, so... stranded in the middle of Lisbon," he added.

The huge outage on Monday brought most of Spain and Portugal to a standstill, grounding planes, halting public transport, and forcing hospitals to suspend routine operations. 

Spain's Interior Ministry declared a national emergency, deploying 30,000 police across the country to keep order as governments from the two countries convened emergency cabinet meetings. Outages on such a scale are extremely rare in Europe.

The cause of the power failure is still under investigation, and authorities have not confirmed when normal service will resume.