UPDATED: At 4.30pm on Friday the airport said in a statement that it was able to safely restart flights. "To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow
will [be] running a reduced operation prioritising repatriation and
relocation of aircraft," it added.
London’s Heathrow Airport will be closed today (Friday 21 March) until midnight due to a power outage caused by a nearby fire, leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and disruption likely to continue over the weekend.
A statement posted by the airport on social media at around 4.30am local time said: “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 23h59 on 21 March.
“Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience.”
All flights from Heathrow have been cancelled today, while incoming flights are being cancelled or diverted, although London’s other main airports – Gatwick, Stansted and Luton – have limited capacity to help. Some flights have been diverted to airports further afield across the UK and northern Europe.
More than
1,330 flights and up to 291,000 passengers are likely to be affected today,
according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
The airport, which is
a major hub for transatlantic travel, was scheduled to see 665
departures on Friday, while a further 669 flights were due to arrive. British Airways has the largest share of flights from Heathrow – around 50 per cent of all departures, according to Cirium –
followed by Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa.
In a statement on its website, British Airways said: “Customers due to travel from Heathrow on Friday are advised not to
travel to the airport until further notice. We are closely monitoring
the situation and will provide more information as soon as we have
further details.”
Writing on LinkedIn, Clive Wratten, CEO of the UK's Business Travel Association, said: “It will be chaotic [but] try
and be patient, and history suggests this industry of ours is incredibly
effective at recovering from a major incident such as this.”
The power outage has also affected thousands of local residents and transport links, including Heathrow Express train services which connect the airport with central London.