Power failure at Barcelona control tower causes widespread disruption

Barcelona-El Prat Airport returned to largely normal operations on Thursday after an electrical failure in its control tower temporarily halted flights and caused delays that continued well into Wednesday evening. However, some knock-on delays remained, while a separate ground-handling strike continued to affect flights and baggage services.

The incident began at around 13:40 local time on Wednesday, 12 August, when the control tower at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport suffered a failure affecting its electricity supply. According to Spanish media reports, both the main power supply and the back-up system were affected, forcing air traffic controllers to activate contingency procedures.

For safety reasons, all take-offs and landings were suspended for approximately 15 minutes. Aircraft approaching Barcelona were placed in holding patterns or diverted, while departing flights remained at their gates or on the ground.

Once limited operations resumed, controllers increased the spacing between arriving aircraft, significantly reducing the number of flights the airport could handle. This helped maintain safety but resulted in rapidly accumulating delays during one of the busiest periods of the summer.

Airport operator Aena publicly reported the problem at 14:18 and said technicians were working to restore the tower’s electrical supply. Full power was recovered approximately one hour later, and Aena subsequently announced that arrivals and departures were gradually resuming.

Nevertheless, restoring electricity did not immediately return the airport to normal. Airlines had to reposition aircraft and crews, while delayed inbound flights affected subsequent departures. Some passengers reportedly remained aboard aircraft for more than two hours.

Of the 1,124 aircraft movements scheduled at Barcelona on Wednesday, at least ten arriving flights were diverted to alternative airports. At least five flights were cancelled, while dozens suffered delays exceeding two hours. Disruption continued into the evening, with air traffic controllers warning that the backlog might not be cleared before midnight. El País reported that thousands of passengers were affected.

Ryanair said nearly 6,000 of its passengers experienced delays as a consequence of the failure. The airline described the disruption as “unacceptable” and called on Spanish air navigation provider Enaire to explain how the tower’s principal electricity supply and its back-up system could apparently fail at the same time.

By Thursday morning, the tower’s electrical systems were operating normally and the airport had largely recovered from the incident. Some residual delays were still being reported as airlines restored their schedules following Wednesday’s disruption, coinciding with increased traffic after the total solar eclipse.

However, the airport’s situation has not returned entirely to normal because of a separate indefinite strike by employees of Groundforce Barcelona, which began on 4 August. The industrial action affects ground-handling activities including baggage loading, check-in, boarding and aircraft turnaround services.

According to figures provided by workers’ representatives to La Vanguardia, between 150 and 170 flights had been cancelled since the strike began, including another 18 on Thursday. Around 3,000 pieces of baggage were reportedly awaiting processing at the airport. Lufthansa Group airlines have been among the carriers most affected.

These cancellations should therefore be distinguished from Wednesday’s electrical failure: the power problem caused a temporary suspension of runway operations and a chain of delays, whereas much of the continuing disruption on Thursday was connected to the Groundforce strike.

The incident occurred at an exceptionally busy time for Barcelona-El Prat. The airport handled a record 5.87 million passengers in July, six per cent more than during the same month last year. Although the immediate electrical problem has been resolved, passengers travelling through Barcelona are still advised to check their flight status with their airline because of possible residual delays and the continuing ground-handling dispute.