London’s Heathrow Airport announced on Friday that it will be closed until midnight on March 21, after experiencing a power outage due to a fire at an electrical substation. London’s main airport said that it had suffered a significant power failure due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the facility. The cause of the fire remains unknown.
“To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23h59 on 21st March,” Heathrow Airport said in a post on X. “Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information,” it added.
Energy Minister Ed Miliband said the “catastrophic” fire had prevented the power backup system from working and that engineers were working to deploy a third backup mechanism
1,350 flights to be impacted
The London Fire Brigade said 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters were on the scene after a transformer within an electrical substation caught fire in west London late Thursday night.
At least 1,350 flights will be impacted, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar 24 — not including flights that might be canceled or delayed due to aircraft being out of position.
The airport was due to handle 1,351 flights during the day, flying up to 291,000 passengers. British Airways, the biggest carrier at Heathrow, had 341 flights scheduled to land at Heathrow on Friday.
Flights have been diverted to other airports and several, including United Airlines flights from the U.S., have been canceled according to the airline. Some flights arriving from the U.S. to the airport were forced to turn around mid-air and return to their point of departure.
In addition, Qantas, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have all recorded disruption to their flight services.
London Gatwick Airport said on Friday it would accept some flights from Heathrow. “We are aware of the situation at Heathrow today and are supporting where required. Flights from London Gatwick are operating as normal today,” the airport said on X.
Over 6,300 homes lose power
Moreover, over 6,300 homes have lost power in a large-scale outage caused by the fire, energy supplier Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said on X. LFB said power has since been restored to some properties.
London’s Heathrow Airport is the U.K.’s largest aviation hub, handling about 1,300 landings and take-offs each day. A record 83.9 million passengers passed through its terminals last year, according to its latest data. The airport serves over 230 destinations in nearly 90 countries. So far, 90 airlines have made the airport their base, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa.
