A power disruption at London Heathrow Airport, one of the world’s busiest airports, led to its closure on Friday, creating widespread travel chaos for tens of thousands of passengers. According to a tweet from the airport, a fire at an electrical substation in North Hyde, Hayes, West London, was responsible for the outage. The airport’s management did not expect it to reopen until early Saturday. Experts predict a prolonged recovery period, estimating potential disruptions lasting several days.

Flights were rerouted to various international destinations such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Manchester. The incident’s extent saw diverted planes and long queues, affecting many passengers.

As investigations continued into the cause of the fire, with no signs of foul play, Heathrow, located in West London’s Hillingdon borough, informed the public to avoid traveling to the airport and to contact their airlines for further instructions. Some passengers reported being offered flight refunds by their airlines, while others had their journeys significantly rearranged.

In terms of scale, Heathrow handles approximately 67 million passengers annually and serves about 1,300 flights daily. This shutdown, therefore, represents a significant disruption to global air travel. Historical comparisons show similar, though smaller-scale, incidents that have affected thousands of flights worldwide due to IT and staffing issues, system failures, and severe weather conditions.

For the latest updates, firefighters were actively working to manage the fire’s aftermath, and major airlines, including British Airways, were advising passengers against traveling to Heathrow while working on alternative solutions for their travelers. The situation continued to evolve, with ongoing efforts to restore normal operations and minimize the impact on passengers.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/21/heathrow-shutdown-what-happened-which-flights-have-been-disrupted?traffic_source=rss