Heathrow Airport, London which is one of the busiest airports in the world, connecting millions with several destinations around the world has announced a total shut down of activities and flights following a fire incident and accompanying power outage.
The Heathrow airport authorities disclosed this information in a tweet early Friday morning. Taking to its X account it tweeted “Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage,”
“To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until (11:59 p.m. Friday local time). Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport.”
Following this, diverted Heathrow airport flights were rerouted to nearby airports, including Gatwick, Charles de Gaulle, and Shannon.
A passenger identified as Tori Dunzello who was onboard the flight heading to her fathers funeral revealed that her flight was diverted to Canada
She stated “I saw the time on the screen started to increase, I turned on my world map, and I started seeing a big U-turn, and I turned around and said to my husband: ‘I think we’re turning around.”
According to the FlightRadar24 live tracking website, a minimum of 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow airport were impacted by the disruption. Notably, the online service indicated that the busiest route to and from Heathrow is the connection with New York’s JFK International Airport, which operates 146 flights weekly.
The effects of the disruption were expected to last for several days as passengers scrambled to make alternative arrangements. According to Aviation consultant John Strickland, “We’re facing several days of disruption to recover planes and resume operations for both scheduled and disrupted passengers.”
Strickland drew parallels between the outage and significant disruptions like the 9/11 attacks or the 2010 Icelandic volcanic eruption, which brought European airspace to a standstill. “Given Heathrow’s status as a bustling airport operating at full capacity, there’s limited flexibility to mitigate the effects of such disruptions,” Strickland explained.
In response to the disruption, Britain’s National Rail service suspended all train services to and from Heathrow for the day. Despite this, some passengers attempted to enter the airport on foot but were stopped by police.
He revealed that the London Fire Brigade deployed 10 fire engines and approximately 70 firefighters to combat the blaze at a substation near the airport in Hayes, a town in west London. The fire broke out late Thursday night and was contained by around 8 a.m. local time, although firefighters stayed on the scene throughout the day.
Following this, residents were advised to keep their windows and doors closed and avoid the area due to the significant amount of smoke produced by the fire. Pat Goulbourne, the assistant Commissioner stated that the power outage affected a significant number of homes and local businesses, stating that authorities were working to minimize disruption.
Firemen safely evacuated 29 people from nearby properties, and around 150 individuals were relocated. According to Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, the power outage impacted more than 16,300 homes.
Authorities further stated that the cause of the substation fire was unclear. However, U.K. Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband assured LBC Radio that there was no indication of foul play.
Miliband described the incident as “a catastrophic fire at this substation” that appeared to have disabled both a backup generator and the substation itself. “We will need to conduct a thorough examination of the causes and assess the protection and resilience measures in place for critical institutions like Heathrow,” Miliband emphasized.
The latest data from travel analytics firm OAG Aviation ranked Heathrow as the world’s fifth busiest airport and the busiest in Britain.
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