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.

Dutch grid operator TenneT reported an overload on its power lines that caused the outage.

The ANP news agency said the outage covered large parts of the province of North Holland, including the nearby broadcasting centre of Hilversum.