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All flights to and from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport were cancelled on Friday following a major power outage in the Dutch capital and surrounding region, an airport spokeswoman said.

She said all incoming flights to Europe's fourth largest airport were being diverted to other regional airports. "We are experiencing a lot of problems due to the outage," she said.


Frankfurt airport operator Fraport said two flights due to depart for Amsterdam were delayed until further notice. A spokesman said the operator had not yet had any requests to take diversions from Schiphol.

The power cut hit the Dutch capital Amsterdam and surrounding areas on Friday, as Dutch grid operator TenneT reported an overload on its power lines.

The ANP news agency said the outage, which covered large parts of the province of North Holland including the nearby broadcasting centre of Hilversum, was caused by a fault at a high-voltage electricity substation in the Amsterdam suburb of Diemen.

Large numbers of passenger trains were cancelled across the country and traffic lights in the region were also affected.

Hospitals were operating on backup power, NOS public television reported.

The Dutch word for power outage, stroomstoring, is trending on twitter as people take to social media to report the power cut.

TenneT, the grid operator, announced on their twitter page that there is "no fire" and "no injuries", while they are "working hard on recovery".