Severe disruptions to air traffic are expected across the UK as a fire at an electrical substation close to London Heathrow has led to the closure of the airport on Friday 21 March.
A statement from London Heathrow, the fifth busiest airport in the world according to OAG, confirms that “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 23.49 on 21 March.”
British Airways, which controls over 50 per cent of the slots at the UK’s primary hub and those flying with the airline have been the worst affected so far. It had cancelled close to 300 of its scheduled flights for the day. A statement from the airline simply read, “due to a power outage in the London Heathrow area, the airport is currently closed. As a result, customers due to travel from Heathrow on Friday are advised not to travel to the airport until further notice.” The airline will continue to monitor the situation.
Passengers travelling with to and from Edinburgh have also been told not to travel to the airport until further notice. Similarly AGS Airports, which operates Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton has advised that all its flights to and from London Heathrow have been cancelled.
Reports from Flightradar24 show that many flights heading to the UK last night from the US have either been returned to their point of departure or grounded on America’s East Coast. United Airlines confirmed that seven of its flights had returned to their origin or diverted to other airports. Gatwick said it was ready to support diverted flights with seven flights scheduled to land at Heathrow diverted to Gatwick earlier this morning.
Other airports including Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Shannon have also received diverted flights. UK regional hubs including Stansted and Luton remain on standby for diverted flights, otherwise operations continue as normal.
Although it doesn’t fly to or from Heathrow, low-cost carrier easyJet has also said it will fly larger aircraft on key routes on Friday and through the weekend to provide additional seats for passenger stranded following the sudden closure of London’s primary hub. Fellow budget carrier Ryanair is also laying on eight “rescue flights” for affected passengers. “Ryanair will operate four extra flights between Dublin and Stansted on Friday afternoon as well as four extra flights on Saturday morning,” a statement read.
It has been reported that more than 300,000 passengers will be affected by Heathrow’s sudden closure.
Image source: London Heathrow
