The operator of Las Americas International Airport (SDQ), Vinci Airports – Aerodom was fined US$5 million for the nine-hour blackout that affected airport operations on Sunday, 21 September 2025. An electricity glitch caused the power outage at the main terminal, affecting arrival and departure operations from 9:18 am to around 6 pm when power was fully restored. Around 50 flights were impacted.
The reaction comes after the Dominican Airport Commission met in an extraordinary session to review the technical report on the event, which concluded, preliminarily, that the failure was caused by the collapse of a medium-voltage component in the north terminal, combined with the unavailability of the backup electrical system, which significantly affected airport operations. As part of the measures adopted, the Commission decided that Aerodom must pay the Dominican State a compensation of US$5 million and assume the costs of the damages caused to affected passengers and airlines. Furthermore, the company was instructed to strictly comply with the contractual obligations established in article 8.2.2 of the Reformed Concession Contract, and is required to submit the plans and a detailed report of what happened within 48 hours.
The report attributes the failure to the collapse of the cell-disconnect switch unit of the medium-voltage in the north terminal and the lack of availability of the backup circuit. The Airport Commission also instructed Aerodom to provide, within 48 hours, the electrical plans and a detailed report of the incident. Likewise, a structural intervention of the airport’s electrical system was ordered, which must be carried out within a maximum period of three months, to guarantee reliability and avoid similar events in the future.
The preliminary investigation revealed that the failure was caused by the collapse of a medium-voltage component in the north terminal.
Vinci Airports is the world’s leading airport operator. Vinci Airports operates in 14 countries across the Americas (including the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Costa Rica), Europe (such as France, the UK, Portugal, Serbia, Hungary, and Sweden), and Asia (Cambodia and Japan). The company manages over 70 airports worldwide, including major hubs like London Gatwick in the UK, Lisbon Airport in Portugal, Budapest Airport in Hungary, Kansai International Airport in Japan, and Santiago Airport in Chile.
In 2023, the company signed an agreement with the Dominican government to extend the Aerodom concession for another 30 years.
Interestingly, this year power outages have also impacted international airports in Costa Rica and Barcelona, Spain.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Reuters
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Vinci Airports
25 September 2025