CNN
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London’s Heathrow Airport, one of the world’s busiest, announced a complete shutdown all day Friday due to a “significant power outage” as a result of a large fire nearby and warned that “significant disruptions” can be expected over the coming days.
“Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage,” Heathrow Airport said in a statement on X. “To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23h59 on 21 March.”
“We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens,” the airport said in a statement to CNN, adding that they “do not have clarity on when power may be reliable restored.”
The London Fire Brigade said in a statement that a transformer within an electrical substation in Hayes, in west London, was alight. Fire officials were called to the area around 11:23 p.m. local time on Thursday and crews have been on scene throughout the night. The cause of the fire is not yet known, they said.
Ten fire trucks and around 70 firefighters were responding to the blaze, it added. Around 150 people have been evacuated and authorities have set up a 200-meter cordon as a precaution, Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne said in the statement.
“As we head into the morning, disruption is expected to increase, and we urge people to avoid the area wherever possible,” he said.
Videos shared on social media showed huge flames and smoke rising into the air early Friday.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, a utility company, said it was aware of a “widespread power cut” in the London suburbs near the airport. According to its website, the unplanned outage was affecting more than 16,000 homes.
“We know this will be disappointing for passengers and we want to reassure that we are working as hard as possible to resolve the situation,” the airport said in its statement to CNN.
Heathrow Airport appeared largely dark amid the power outage, according to videos shared on social media.
The shutdown could affect hundreds of thousands of travelers. Heathrow was the world’s fourth-busiest airport in 2023, according to the most recent data, with a record-breaking 83.9 million passengers passing through last year.
Spread across five terminals and located 14 miles west of central London, it usually runs at 99% capacity, with every major airline passing through, meaning it’s always very busy.
“Heathrow handles about a quarter of a million passengers a day. It does that with about 1,300 flights a day,” aviation analyst Geoffrey Thomas told CNN on Friday. “We’ve got literally hundreds of flights coming in from the United States, from Southeast Asia, the Middle East — they’re all in the air at the moment.”
By early Friday, the airport’s website showed multiple scheduled arrivals diverted or canceled, though others are still listed as “expected” arrivals.
According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, more than 1,350 flights going in or out of Heathrow on Friday will be affected. It also said 120 flights were in the air when the announcement came. They had to be diverted to other airports or turned back to their original location.
Thomas added that while shorter domestic flights might be able to turn back, that’s not an option for long-haul international flights. There are several other airports near London, including Gatwick Airport and Stansted Airport, but those are likely “at capacity,” meaning diverted flights have to go further to find an alternative place to land — like in Glasgow or Edinburgh, he said.
And that could pose another problem. Those other airports, some of them smaller and lower-cost than Heathrow, aren’t equipped to handle the sheer number of diverted passengers coming their way, he said.
As authorities race to contain the fire and navigate the fallout, they’ll also face tough questions, Thomas said, including why such a crucial travel and economic hub wasn’t able to tap into a backup power source.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
