The Heathrow of London closed after power outage: which flights were disturbed? | Aviation news

A loss of current forced London Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest in the world, to to block On Friday morning, reason for chaos and disturbing travel for tens of thousands of air passengers.

In a message on the website of the Social Media X, the airport blamed a fire brigade in an electric substation in North Hyde in Hayes, West -Londen, for the power outage and said that it was expected again on Saturday on Saturday.

Aviation analyst Alex Macheras told Al Jazeera that the knock-on effect of historical disturbances would be enormous. “It may take days” to get normal again, he said.

Flights were diverted to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Manchester.

This is what we know about what happened and the disruption that caused the closure.

Due to a fire at an electrical substation that supplies the airport, Heathrow experiences a considerable power outage.

To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23h59 on March 21.

Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport … pic.twitter.com/7swnjp8ojd

– Heathrow Airport (@Heathrowairport) March 21, 2025

What happened at Heathrow airport?

A large fire in an electric substation that operates Heathrow and surrounding areas is blamed for cutting the current at the airport and causes the closure.

De Blaze also caused extensive power outages for thousands of living and commercial buildings in parts of West Londs. Officials initially advised residents in the area to close windows and doors due to the enormous plumes of smoke.

In a statement that was placed early on X on Friday, Heathrow Airport advised passengers and staff to stay away from the building and said that this was not expected that it would open again before midnight.

“Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and have to contact their airline for more information. We apologize for the inconvenience,” said the statement.

Travelers already told Jazeera that some airlines had received lighting. One, identified as Ellen, said she was booked on a British Airways flight for Friday’s chaos.

“We had to fly to Venice this morning from Heathrow for a day trip for my 30th birthday gift, it was a surprise booked by my cousin for the two of us,” Ellen told Al Jazeera. “We have offered a complete reimbursement by the airline, so I will not travel this weekend, but will try to rearrange again,” she said.

What caused the fire?

Fire brigade officers said that the cause of the fire is still unclear – investigations are underway. They warned that this would be a “long -term incident” because firefighters fought against the fire early on Friday. According to officials of the United Kingdom, it was brought under control at around 6:30 GMT.

Speaking with LBC Radio on Friday, said British energy secretary Ed Miliband: “There is no suggestion that there is a false game.”

Where is Heathrow and where did the fire take place?

Heathrow is located on the outskirts of West -Londen, in the town of Hillingdon. The airport is the busiest in Europe and one of the busiest in the world, based on passenger traffic.

The fire took place in an area close to Heathrow, at the North Hyde Electrical Substation in Hayes, about a 20 -minute drive from the airport.

How many flights have been delayed or canceled?

According to Air Traffic Monitor, at least 1,357 flights are disturbed, Flighttradar24.

About 679 flights were planned to land at the airport, while expected to start 678 flights, the monitor said.

Most flights that would land on Heathrow were diverted to the Schiphol airport of Amsterdam. Others were diverted to Frankfurt, Manchester and Dublin.

Flighttradar24 said that 120 aircraft waiting to be diverted were still in the air on Friday morning after the disturbances.

Some passengers said they had been informed of cancellations and diversions for hours before their flight, while many others were stuck at Heathrow or Airports.

Lloyd, 34, who was planning to travel via Heathrow to the United States to visit his partner, received an e -mail when he was on his way to Glasgow Airport on Friday morning to inquire that his 6.35 hour to a later time and to another airport in the US was planned. By the time he arrived at the airport, his flight was canceled and he was advised not to travel from Glasgow to Heathrow.

“Perhaps because we had not left for London yet, we were not as upset as they are stuck in Heathrow,” Lloyd told Al Jazeera.

How many flights and passengers go through Heathrow?

According to Heathrow’s data, around 67 million passengers go through the airport every year. That is close to the population of the entire VK.

Passenger traffic broke records in 2024 when the airport registered more than 83 million passengers – around 220,000 people a day.

The airport processes around 1,300 flights every day.

Has such a thing happened before?

Similar events have happened, although on a much smaller scale. Some of them were also in the UK.

• Last July, one Significant IT loss In several countries, thousands of cancellations caused flight and also affected industries, ranging from banks to media companies. It happened after CyberSecurity Firm Crowdstrike, which serves companies like Microsoft, has distributed a defective update for its systems. At least 2500 flights were canceled and millions of systems were eliminated. Analysts said it was the biggest IT drop in history.
• In August 2023, flights were canceled for more than 700,000 passengers when planes were based on the British airports due to a technical malfunction in the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) planning system.
• In the summer of 2022, after countries were fully opened after the COVID-19 Pandemie, tens of thousands of people who flowed to holidays around the world were hit by a huge shortage of airlines, which caused disturbances worldwide. Hundreds of flights were canceled and passengers had problems finding their luggage. Heathrow Airport was forced to temporarily issue a passenger cap and stopped airlines to sell airline tickets.
• In 2018, an arctic snowstorm caused that the VK moisture, considerable flight disruptions, as well as disturbances of rail and traffic. The storm lasted 11 days, with almost 5,000 flights disturbed.

What is the last of the ground?

Firefighters continue to fight the fire, which, although under control, is in progress.

In the meantime, large airlines such as British Airways have warned their passengers not to travel to Heathrow.

“We work as quickly as possible to update (travelers) on their travel options for the next 24 hours and then,” said the airline.

A statement from British Airways after the disruption on London Heathrow Airport on March 21 pic.twitter.com/wguzibbj9n

– British Airways (@british_Airways) March 21, 2025