Netherlands hit by power cut; Schiphol airport cancels all flights

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A major power outage hit large parts of Amsterdam and the surrounding province of North Holland on Friday, prompting the cancellation of all flights to and from the city's Schiphol airport. An hour and a half after the outage hit, Dutch grid operator TenneT said power had been restored to some parts of the densely populated region. The outage was caused by a "technical fault" at a substation in the Amsterdam suburb of Diemen, it said on its Twitter feed. Flights to Schiphol, Europe's fourth largest airport, were being diverted to other regional airports, a spokeswoman 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. Public transport across the Netherlands was affected, with trains cancelled and passengers stuck in lifts, trams and subways. Hospitals were operating on backup power, NOS public television reported. Broadcasting from the national media centre was sporadic. (Reporting By Thomas Escritt and Anthony Deutsch; additional reporting by Victoria Bryan in Frankfurt; editing by John Stonestreet)