Impact of Infrastructure Outages on Organizations and Travelers

Power blackouts and IT failures are no longer one-off glitches but a growing strategic risk. Recent infrastructure outages have significantly disrupted airports, cities, and supply chains worldwide, exposing the fragility of critical systems.

Business leaders now face an urgent question: how can organisations protect their people and operations in an age of unpredictable outages?

Wake-Up Call: Heathrow Shutdown and Iberian Peninsula Blackout

Earlier this year, Europe witnessed two dramatic infrastructure failures that underscored this threat. On 21 March 2025, a fire at an electrical substation knocked out power at London's Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest air hub, shutting it down for approximately 18 hours.¹ Over 1,300 flights were disrupted or cancelled, planes were diverted mid-route, and tens of thousands of travelers were stranded.

Just weeks later, on 28 April, the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) suffered Europe's biggest blackout in over 20 years, plunging most of Spain, Portugal, and parts of France into sudden darkness. This unprecedented power outage caused hours of chaos, grounding planes and forcing hospitals to suspend routine operations as authorities scrambled to restore power.

These incidents are not isolated cases. From rolling blackouts in South Africa (2007 to present) to a nationwide grid collapse in Pakistan (2023) that left 220 million people without power, infrastructure outages are a global concern.² Even advanced economies are vulnerable. In January 2023, a critical Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) computer outage in the United States grounded over 11,000 flights nationwide, the first such aviation shutdown since 9/11.³

The lesson is clear: whether caused by physical failures or IT glitches, infrastructure outages anywhere can disrupt operations everywhere. Multinational organisations with far-flung facilities and mobile workforces are particularly exposed to this rising risk.

Global Trend: Fragile Infrastructure Meets Rising Risk

Major infrastructure failures were once so rare that leaders could dismiss them as anomalies. But today, converging factors make outages more frequent and severe worldwide. Ageing power grids, overstretched transportation networks, extreme weather, and cyber threats are straining systems beyond their limits.

No infrastructure is infallible, even in regions with historically reliable utilities. Experts warn that low-probability but high-impact blackouts "can happen anywhere".⁴ In Europe, officials stressed that large-scale blackouts are extraordinarily rare. Yet, the Iberian outage proved that even one of the world's most stable grids can be knocked offline under the right stress conditions.

The Financial Impact

The financial fallout from these failures is enormous. Power disruptions already cost economies billions: storm-related outages alone cost the U.S. economy an estimated $20–$55 billion USD each year, and total annual losses to American businesses from power interruptions may be around $150 billion USD.^{5, 6} Beyond direct losses, there is a ripple effect on supply chains and investor confidence when key hubs go dark.

Fragile infrastructure is now recognized as a strategic business risk, appearing on global risk registers and boardroom agendas. The World Economic Forum's 2024 assessments link infrastructure vulnerability with risks like Natural Hazards and cyberattacks.⁷

Consequences for Organisations and Travelers When Infrastructure Fails 

Business Disruption

Operational downtime is often affected first. Production lines stop, data centers go offline, and logistics halt. The Heathrow outage forced over a thousand flight cancellations, with knock-on impacts lasting days.

Even short outages can scramble supply chains, perishable goods spoil if refrigeration fails, and just-in-time manufacturing is thrown off schedule. Companies without strong contingency plans and redundant operations can face severe financial and reputational damage.

Safety and Security Risks

Infrastructure outages can create hazardous situations. Transport failures leave travelers stranded in unfamiliar places, sometimes in unsafe conditions. During the Iberian Peninsula blackout, train and metro systems stopped mid-journey, and traffic lights stopped working, raising the risk of collisions and injuries.

Blackouts also mean communication breakdowns; employees and travelers may struggle to get reliable information or call for help if phone networks and internet lines are down. In prolonged outages, there's an uptick in security concerns such as looting or crime in affected areas.⁸ Even within corporate facilities, loss of power can trigger building evacuations or leave safety systems (like alarms or access control) non-functional.

Medical and Health Impacts

The health implications of outages are a critical, sometimes overlooked, concern. Hospitals and clinics typically have generators, but these can fail or run out of fuel, forcing delays in care. In the Iberian Peninsula blackout, hospitals had to suspend routine operations and rely on backup power for emergencies. Patients on life-supporting equipment face life-threatening risks if power isn't quickly restored.

Beyond hospitals, consider travelers with medical needs: an airport outage might strand an individual who relies on refrigerated medications like insulin, or a family with an infant needing electrical power for formula equipment. Heat wave induced strains on electrical power systems and ultimately failure may result in a lack of air conditioning, increasing the risk of heat related illnesses and death.

The Four Key Trends Impacting the Rise in Infrastructure Outages 

1. Ageing Infrastructure: Much of the world's critical infrastructure is decades old and suffering from underinvestment. Ageing power lines, transformers, rails, and bridges are more prone to failure and less able to handle surges or peak loads. For example, officials in Pakistan blamed a nationwide blackout on the country's "ageing grid" and underlying weaknesses in the system.⁹ Similarly, many developed nations have deferred maintenance on infrastructure built in the mid-20th century. As these systems approach end-of-life, failures become more common, and unless massive upgrades are undertaken, a costly prospect many governments and companies have postponed, strains on these systems will likely persist.
2. Climate Volatility: Extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and intensity, wreaking havoc on infrastructure. Severe storms, floods, wildfires, and heat waves can kill power and transportation networks in minutes. In the U.S., for example, a series of winter storms in 2021 caused power plants in Texas to freeze, leaving 4.5 million homes and businesses without power for days.⁴ Climate scientists warn that what was once a 1-in-100-year weather event may now happen far more often.¹⁰
3. Conflict and Geopolitical Threats: In regions of conflict, infrastructure becomes a strategic target or collateral damage during fighting. The conflict in Ukraine, where state-sponsored attacks on power grids in 2015 and 2016 left hundreds of thousands without electricity, is a reminder of this reality. Even outside open warfare, sabotage and political unrest pose growing risks to critical systems.
4. Digital Vulnerabilities: Modern infrastructure is highly digitized and interconnected, which brings great efficiency but also presents new vulnerabilities. Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure are a clear danger. Security experts note that attacks on power and utilities are "not science fiction". Hackers have already caused grid disruptions via malware.⁴ Beyond deliberate attacks, even technical glitches and software errors can trigger chaos. The 2023 FAA incident proved that a single corrupted software file could bring an entire nation's aviation system to a halt.¹¹ Likewise, airlines and rail systems have suffered IT meltdowns, grounding thousands of travelers. As organisations digitize operations and increasingly migrate to the cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) systems, the risk of systemic failures increases. Many critical systems also suffer from legacy technology that hasn't been modernized, making them brittle and vulnerable to attack.

How to Build Resilience When Facing a Future Power Outage 

1. Strengthen Business Continuity Plans: 
   • Conduct regular risk assessments to identify critical operations that depend on public infrastructure (power, water, telecommunications, transport). 
   • Develop backup solutions for each dependency, whether installing generators and satellite communications or arranging alternate sites.
   • Test plans with realistic drills, such as simulated city-wide blackouts, so teams know their roles and responsibilities when crises strike.
   • Ensure crisis management plans explicitly cover infrastructure outage scenarios with clear protocols and responsibilities
2. Build Redundancy and Flexibility
   • Add redundancy wherever feasible, using multiple suppliers for internet, power feeds, and critical services with automatic failover systems.
   • Back up critical data in geographically dispersed locations to prevent single points of failure.
   • Establish alternate travel routes and flexible ticketing for travelling employees to reroute during disruptions.
   • Enable staff to work remotely if offices lose power, and create flexible delivery schedules around potential disruptions.
3. Protect People and Communicate
   • Provide workforce training on emergency procedures for hotel blackouts or airport shutdowns.
   • Ensure travelers carry emergency kits with flashlights, battery packs, and essential medications for higher-risk destinations.
   • Establish 24/7 communication channels, such as emergency hotlines or provider Assistance Apps to maintain contact during infrastructure failures.
   • Create protocols for medical support, including plans for employees with electrically powered medical devices or temperature-sensitive medications.
4. Leverage Intelligence and Partnerships
   • Subscribe to real-time intelligence services monitoring severe weather alerts, cyberattacks, and developing infrastructure threats.
   • Partner with specialist providers like International SOS, who can assist during crises, from security teams for evacuations to medical assistance for affected travelers.
   • Maintain relationships with trusted external partners (legal, logistical, medical, and security) for rapid activation during emergencies.
   • Establish operations centers or monitoring systems to track risks and coordinate response efforts when outages exceed in-house capacity. 

Is your Organisation Prepared for the Next Outage?

The rising tide of infrastructure risks means planning for failure is now a core leadership responsibility.

By understanding the threats, learning from real-world incidents, and fortifying resilience measures, business leaders can confidently answer the ultimate strategic question: when the power goes out or the network crashes, will we be ready to keep our people safe and our operations running?

For deeper insight into how organisations can navigate the cascading effects of infrastructure failures, watch the on-demand recording from our Crisis Pulse Series "The Pressure Chain – Navigating Systemic Shocks". In this 50-minute conversation, Gautier Porot, Global Crisis Management Practice Leader, Consulting, and Cédrick Moriggi, Chief Resilience Officer, explore what makes systemic shocks uniquely disruptive, how leaders can respond with clarity and humility, and why resilience is more than a safety net.

 

1. ^{UK's Heathrow responded well to outage in March, internal review finds | Reuters}
2. ^{https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/22/asia/pakistan-power-outage-intl-hnk}
3. ^{U.S. FAA adopts new safeguards after computer outage halted flights}
4. ^{‘Blackouts can happen anywhere’: how power systems worldwide can collapse | Energy industry | The Guardian}
5. ^{The Impact of Power Outages | Pinkerton}
6. ^{A day without power: Outage costs for businesses - Bloom Energy}
7. ^{10 Expert Insights From The Global Risks Report 2024}
8. ^{EconStor: Crime in the dark: Role of electricity rationing}
9. ^{Tens of millions without power in Pakistan as national grid fails}
10. ^{Rare and Severe Weather Events Are Now More Common Thanks to Climate Change - Union of Concerned Scientists}
11. ^{FAA links computer outage to procedural error as U.S. flights return to normal | Reuters}