Airline chiefs have accused Heathrow of âclear failureâ after Europeâs busiest airport was shut down by a fire in a single electricity substation.
The airport closed for nearly 24 hours on Friday in an unprecedented move that left about 200,000 passengers stranded across the globe, with counter-terror police brought in to investigate the source of the fire.
The first flights resumed on Friday night, but airlines have warned the public to expect days of disruption.
Questions are mounting over why there was not an effective back-up power supply to prevent Heathrow closing.
The incident has also led to wider concerns about Britainâs energy security and the power supply to critical national infrastructure amid fears it could be targeted by Russia or terrorists.
Sir Gavin Williamson, the Tory former defence secretary, said: âThis is a colossal failure of Heathrow airport. They have failed to build in the resilience that is required to ensure this level of disruption does not happen.â
Heathrow, which is owned by a consortium of foreign investors including a French private equity firm, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has been accused of underinvestment over a decade in which it has been fighting for airport expansion. Those plans have included proposals to build a dedicated power station.
Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is among those who have opposed the expansion of Heathrow, with the rows over a third runway feared to have prevented wider modernisation at the airport.
Other airports around the world have taken steps to diversify their electrical supplies. Amsterdam Schiphol announced in 2023 that it was building a new high-voltage substation. Similarly, New Yorkâs JFK airport recently commissioned a 110 megawatt gas-fired electricity generation plant on site.
Willie Walsh, the former British Airways chief executive who now runs the International Air Transport Association, the body representing airlines, accused Heathrow of failing to ensure it had an alternative power source.
He said: âThis is yet another case of Heathrow letting down both travellers and airlines. And that begs some serious questions.
âHow is it that critical infrastructure â of national and global importance â is totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative.
âIf that is the case â as it seems â then it is a clear planning failure by the airport.â
Greg Smith, Tory MP for Mid Buckinghamshire and shadow junior business minister, said: âItâs clearly a national disaster that they werenât prepared. Our major hub airport just cannot go down like that. If itâs true that the back-up systems are to blame then Heathrow has questions to answer.â
Thomas Woldbye, the chief executive of Heathrow, insisted that back-up systems had been âworking as they shouldâ but were not designed to run the whole airport.
Asked if there was a weak point in Heathrowâs power system, he said: âYou can say that but, of course ⌠we cannot guard ourselves against 100 per cent [of threats] and this is one of them.â
Although the airport has its own biomass energy centre on site, it is understood that this powers heating and air conditioning systems inside the airportâs terminals â and does not operate when the mains power is off.
Mr Miliband said that National Grid told him it had not seen âanything like the scaleâ of what happened with the âseriousnessâ of the fire.
He said: âIt makes Heathrow look quite vulnerable and therefore weâve got to learn lessons about not just Heathrow but how we protect our major infrastructure.â
Industry has previously warned of the risk of blackouts because of a lack of resilience in the power network, partly as a result of the switch to net zero which Mr Miliband has championed.
The substation involved in the Heathrow fire â the North Hyde electrical substation â is running over capacity, an issue caused to some extent by the shutting down of coal-fired power stations near London.
Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said lessons had to be learnt from the incident.
She said she was in close contact with Mr Miliband, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, and Heathrow to âmake sure that any lessons we need to learn from the systems that the airport has in place are learnedâ.
She also said: âWe need to understand what caused an incident of this magnitude at an electricity substation that is very close to a critical piece of national infrastructure.â
More than 1,300 flights were cancelled or diverted from Heathrow â one of the worldâs busiest airports â after the blaze broke shortly before midnight on Thursday.
The blaze was fuelled by 25,000 litres of cooling oil inside the electrical transformer. Locals reported hearing an âexplosionâ.
Inbound planes had to be turned back or diverted to other airports, with some forced to divert as far as Madrid, and more than 1,000 scheduled take-offs were grounded.
Although passengers will be able to claim back travel and accommodation expenses, they will not be entitled to compensation from their carriers because industry rules mean payouts are only required if problems are the airlineâs fault.
Heathrow was expected to return to 100 per cent operations on Saturday but clearing the backlog was predicted to take some days.
In a video message, Sean Doyle, chief executive of British Airways, said: âThis incident will have a substantial impact on our airline and customers for many days to come, with disruption to journeys expected over the coming days.â
BA had been due to operate more than 670 flights on Friday with similar numbers planned over the weekend. Many flights and cabin crews had been diverted and were in the wrong places, he said, while engineering and maintenance operations had been left without power.
A planned closure of the M25 this weekend is expected to add to the travel chaos.
Detectives from Scotland Yardâs SO15 Counter-Terrorism Command took charge of the investigation into the blaze amid fears the power supply could have been sabotaged by a hostile state such as Russia, or even an environmentalist group.
A spokesman for the Met said while there was no obvious indication of foul play, specialist detectives were keeping an open mind.
The spokesman said: âGiven the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure, the Metâs Counter-Terrorism Command is now leading enquiries.
âThis is due to the specialist resources and capabilities within that command that can assist in progressing this investigation at pace to minimise disruption and identify the cause.â
Commander Simon Messinger, who has led the Met Police response to the incident, later said: âAfter initial assessment, we are not treating this incident as suspicious, although inquiries do remain ongoing.â
Whatever the source of the blaze, senior politicians, frustrated passengers and leading aviation figures have demanded to know how Europeâs busiest airport could have been crippled so easily as the result of a fire at a single electricity substation.
Ruth Cadbury, who chairs the transport select committee, and represents Brentford near Heathrow, suggested there were issues with the National Gridâs capacity in the highly populated area around the airport.
A government source suggested the issue lay with the electricity network rather than the airport.
The source said: âSome serious questions need to be answered by the National Grid about why the back-up systems proved ineffective when fire broke out at the substation.
âIt has exposed in a very serious way how to bring down critical infrastructure. Ministers will be asking questions about the protection of other critical infrastructure from electrical faults.â
Accusations that Heathrowâs management has not invested in resilience for the airport come just weeks after it announced its first dividend payout for five years.
Shareholders would receiving the ÂŁ250 million payout âas a result of strong 2024 business performanceâ, the airport said in February.
At the same time, it confirmed total financial reserves of ÂŁ3.4 billion, consisting of ÂŁ2 billion cash in the bank and credit facilities of ÂŁ1.4 billion.
Thank you for following our updates after Heathrow Airport was shut down by a fire.
London Fire Brigadeâs investigation will now focus on the electrical equipment after the Met Police confirmed it was not treating the fire as suspicious.
In a statement on Friday evening, the fire brigadeâs deputy commissioner Jonathan Smith said: âLondon Fire Brigade Fire Investigation Officers, supported by a scientific adviser, have been working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to investigate the cause of this fire.
âThe MPS has confirmed that the fire is believed to be non-suspicious. LFBâs investigation will now focus on the electrical distribution equipment.
âThe Brigade is the enforcing authority for the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and has therefore had Fire Safety Officers at the scene to follow up various lines of enquiry, and work will continue into the coming weeks.
âI would like to take this opportunity to thank Firefighters and Control officers for their courage and professionalism in bringing this incident under control in what were very challenging circumstances.â
The investigation into the fire is at an early stage but it is not being treated as suspicious, the Metropolitan Police confirmed.
Commander Simon Messinger, who is leading the Met Police response to the incident, said: âThe investigation into the cause of the fire remains in its early stages. After initial assessment, we are not treating this incident as suspicious, although inquiries do remain ongoing.
âDue to the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure, the Metâs Counter Terrorism Command are leading our inquiries into this matter.
âThis is due to the specialist resources and capabilities within that command that can assist in progressing this investigation at pace and to help minimise disruption and identify the cause.
âOfficers are working closely with a number of local partners, including the London Fire Brigade, National Grid and SSEN to build a picture of the circumstances surrounding the fire.
âVarious specialist investigators continue to examine the scene and it is expected to take some time before full assessments can be completed.
âOfficers will continue to work alongside colleagues on the investigation, but as we have stated above, at this stage, there remains no indication of any foul play.â
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are now flying empty airliners into Heathrow after the airport re-opened
An A380 from BA and a Boeing 787 from Virgin were among the aircraft positioning from Gatwick to Heathrow, ready to operate some of the dayâs delayed flights.
Earlier today BA said that a number of its flights would operate from 7pm onwards.
Restrictions on overnight flights have been temporarily lifted to help ease congestion following the closure of Heathrow Airport, the Department of Transport said in a post on X.
According to Heathrowâs website, there is no formal ban on night flights but since the 1960s, the Government has placed restrictions on them.
There is an annual limit of 5,800 night-time take-offs and landings between the hours of 11.30pm and 6am as well as a nightly limit, which caps the amount of noise the airport can make at night.
The DfT also said it had allowed passengers to use rail tickets flexibly.
Heathrowâs chief executive officer said the airport will âlook at anything we can learn from thisâ.
Thomas Woldbye told reporters: âOf course, we (will) look at anything we can learn from this, but I should say our backup systems have worked the way they should, our crisis management has worked the way it should.
âThis just takes time when we have an incident of this major severity.â
On the Prime Minister wanting to ask questions about the disruption, Mr Woldbye said: âThe Prime Minister should ask his questions and weâll be happy to answer.â
We are hearing that a group of stranded passengers we spoke to earlier today have finally arrived at Heathrow Airport... only 12 hours late.
Mag Leahyâs flight from Perth was redirected to Paris early this morning after Heathrow was closed.
She and other passengers were forced to take a coach through the Channel Tunnel and finally arrived at Heathrow earlier this evening.
âQantas staff at [Heathrow] Terminal 5 were lovely, handing out water and food,â she said. âA bit late in the day for it really considering we landed in Paris at 5am.â
You can watch our video diary of their journey here.
Heathrow Airportâs chief executive officer has defended the airportâs response to the disruption.
Speaking to the media on Friday afternoon, Thomas Woldbye said: âFirst of all, what Iâd like to do is to apologise to the many people who have had their travel affected during the day today. We are very sorry about all the inconvenience.â
He continued: âIâd like to stress that this has been an incident of major severity. Itâs not a small fire.
âWe have lost power equal to that of a mid-sized city and our backup systems have been working as they should but they are not sized to run the entire airport.â
Asked if there is a weak point in Heathrowâs power system, he said: âYou can say that but of course contingencies of certain sizes we cannot guard ourselves against 100% and this is one of them.
âThis has been a major incident. I mean, short of anybody getting hurt, this is as big as it gets for our airport and we are actually coming back quite fast I would say, when you consider the amount of systems that we have to shut down then bring back up and make sure that theyâre safe.â
The Transport Secretary says she had spoken to Heathrow Airportâs chief executive about âany lessons that might be learned for the futureâ following todayâs disruption.
Heidi Alexander said: âThis is an absolutely unprecedented situation. Itâs been a situation that has been outside of Heathrowâs control.
âI certainly didnât expect to wake up this morning and see that huge fire happening.â
She thanked the emergency services for their response and the National Grid for getting power restored to the airport, as well as staff at Heathrow who have âworked tirelessly all day to get to a point today where flights are able to land again and where the airport hopes to resume full operations tomorrowâ.
Asked what questions there are to answer about the incident, she said: âWe need to understand what caused an incident of this magnitude at an electricity substation that is very close to a critical piece of national infrastructure.â
She said she was in close contact with the Energy Secretary, the Home Secretary and with Heathrow to âmake sure that any lessons we need to learn from the systems that the airport has in place are learnedâ.
A section of the M25 near Heathrow Airport will remain closed this weekend despite the disruption.
National Highways still intends to close the motorway between junctions 10 and 11 from 9pm this evening until 5.30am on Monday to demolish an old bridge.
The agency says it is in regular contact with the Department for Transport and Heathrow Airport following todayâs incident and is âconfident our closure will have minimal impact on the situationâ.
British Airways has warned those heading to Gatwick or Heathrow to leave plenty of extra time for their journeys, with diversions in place.
In a video message to customers this evening British Airways CEO Sean Doyle said:Â âWe hope that power will be restored as soon as possible but even when that does happen this incident will have a substantial impact on our airline and customers for many days to come, with disruption to journeys expected over the coming days.â
BA was due to operate more than 670 flights today with similar numbers planned over the weekend.
A statement from Sean Doyle, the CEO and Chairman of British Airways, following the disruption at London Heathrow Airport on 21 March 2025. pic.twitter.com/OLiCeFrM6L
British Airways has said customers on eight long haul flights can make their way to Heathrow from 5pm.
A spokesman for the airline said: âThe only customers who should make their way to Heathrow Airport are those booked onto the following flights.â
An internal memo to all of British Airwaysâ flight and cabin crew issued shortly after 3pm on Friday thanked them for their âpatienceâ as the company âworks through the unfolding situation at Heathrow Airportâ.
The message, seen by The Telegraph, adds: âWe now have a clearer picture on the remainder of todayâs flying programme...â
It goes on to explain how they anticipated they would be able to âoperate a portion of our long-haul schedule this eveningâ and summoned crew on specific flights to Hong Kong, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Singapore, Riyadh, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to âreport as normalâ to Heathrow.
The note adds: âThe situation remains fluid and we will continue to update you when we can. We are hopeful we will be able to operate a reduced flying programme tomorrow. Please continue to check your roster. A heartfelt thank you to those who have already offered their time and support with tomorrowâs operation.
âWe appreciate how frustrating this must be for you and weâre working hard across every area of our business to get our operation back running.â
Heathrow Airport will be âsafely able to begin some flights later todayâ, a spokesman said.
The spokesman said: âOur teams have worked tirelessly since the incident to ensure a speedy recovery. Weâre pleased to say weâre now safely able to begin some flights later today.
âOur first flights will be repatriation flights and relocating aircraft. Please do not travel to the airport unless your airline has advised you to do so.
âWe will now work with the airlines on repatriating the passengers who were diverted to other airports in Europe. We hope to run a full operation tomorrow and will provide further information shortly.
âOur priority remains the safety of our passengers and those working at the airport. As the busiest airport in Europe, Heathrow uses as much energy as a small city, therefore getting back to a full and safe operation takes time. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident.â
Airline shares are sharply down this afternoon amid speculation about the cause of the fire and concerns of days of disruption.
IAG, the group behind British Airways, plunged as much as 4.3pc, while easyJet lost up to 3.1pc. Even Ryanair, which does not fly into Heathrow, fell by up to 3pc.
Kathleen Brooks, a City analyst at XTB, said: âThe fire in Heathrow is having a big effect on the airline sector in Europe and elsewhere.â
She added: âThe disruption caused by the Heathrow closure for the entire day on Friday is huge, but it will be temporary, and we expect airline stocks to stabilise after an initial knee-jerk sell off.â
In addition to the impact on passenger travel, the closure of the airport threatens to disrupt UK trade.
Heathrow is Britainâs biggest port by the value of goods handled, transporting 1.5m tonnes of freight last year â more than for all other UK airports combined â worth around ÂŁ200bn, mostly in the bellies of wide-body passenger jets on long-haul routes.
A prolonged shutdown has the potential to disrupt just-in-time production systems, while cargo with a limited shelf life, such as perishable foods and pharmaceutical supplies, is at risk of having to be discarded.
IAG Cargo, which includes shipments with British Airways, said it was unable to accept any freight at Heathrow or to take new bookings
John Manners-Bell, who established the Foundation for Future Supply Chain, said on LinkedIn that Heathrow was âcritical to the UKâs economyâ and described the situation as âdeeply frustrating.â
Leading export items by value include precious metals, medicines, engine parts and machinery, scientific equipment and telecoms equipment. By volume, Scottish salmon is Heathrowâs single biggest export.
Sean Doyle, British Airwaysâ chief executive, has said that 107,000 passengers aboard 670 flights have been affected by the Heathrow shutdown.
In a statement issued on Friday afternoon, Mr Doyle apologised for the disruption and said it would have a âsubstantial impactâ for âmany days to comeâ. Experts have already suggested that restoring Heathrow to normal operation could run into next week.
Mr Doyle said: âWe hope that power will be restored as soon as possible. But even when that does happen, this incident will have a substantial impact on our airline and customers for many days to come, with disruption to journeys expected over the coming days.
âTo give you an idea of the scale of disruption we face which weâre working to minimise, today we were due to operate more than 670 flights carrying around 107,000 customers, with similar numbers planned over the weekend. We have flight and cabin crew colleagues and planes that are currently at locations where we werenât planning on them to be.
âThis is because we had to divert flights that were in the air when it became clear we werenât going to be able to land at Heathrow. Our crews are only legally allowable to operate for a certain number of hours over any given period of time which adds further complexity into our planning.
âThat means even if things do get back up and running soon, we will have the logistical issue of getting new crews out to operate those aircraft. In addition, our engineering and maintenance operation have also had no power. This is being addressed but is another example of the incredibly challenging situation we find ourselves in.
âWe will of course work at pace to get customers and colleagues to where they need to be as safely and as quickly as possible. I am sorry to everybody whoâs experiencing this disruption and ask you for your understanding while we work to recover our operation from such a significant challenge which is complex to work through.â
If the fire is confirmed to be a deliberate act of sabotage, it would bear certain similarities to arson attacks carried out in France ahead of the Paris Olympics last summer, writes Will Bolton.
On the eve of the Games, hours before the opening ceremony, saboteurs launched a series of coordinated pre-dawn attacks on signal boxes in rural locations that were crucial to the countryâs high speed national rail tracks.
At the time, Paris itself was heavily guarded with hundreds of heavily armed police officers and soldiers patrolling the capital amid fears of potential terrorist attacks.
The attackers deliberately targeted remote locations that would have a devastating impact on the countryâs rail infrastructure but were outside of the âring of steelâ surrounding Paris.
The sabotage itself was not especially sophisticated, with the vandals setting fire to cables and damaging electricity installations at three locations across Northern France. The targeted sites were small but were located at crucial junctions on the high-speed network.
Around 800,000 passengers were affected by the attack, with international trains, domestic rail services, and the Eurostar all impacted. French intelligence sources said that they now believed radical hard-left activists were behind the attacks.
Suspicion had initially fallen on Russia following months of warnings in the lead up to the Olympics of Kremlin plots to sabotage the Games. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.
If the fire in Hayes does indeed turn out to be an act of sabotage, it would appear that a similar modus operandi may have been used by the attackers. The North Hyde electrical substation is located at the end of a residential street, next to a small industrial estate, around three miles away from the airport.
Like the signal boxes in France, it is easily accessible to the public and well away from the intense security in place at Heathrow itself. It must be clear to anyone intent on causing disruption, for whatever reason, that a single fire can cause a lot of damage if it is started in the right location when no-one is looking.
Power seems to have returned to Heathrow airport but it remains closed after an outage caused by a fire.
Reporters with the PA news agency inside Terminal 4 on Friday afternoon said lights in the main building have switched back on.
Lifts in the multi-storey car park are also operational again.
FlightRadar graphics show the extraordinary impact of Heathrowâs closure on aviation from above:
The UK needs to be fully prepared for dealing with short term shocks like the Heathrow fire, the National Infrastructure Chair has said.
Sir John Armitt added: âThat means building resilience into all systems, regularly stress testing, and increasing cooperation with other operators to identify risks arising from increasing interdependence.
âWeâve been clear the UK needs national resilience standards for our transport, digital, energy and water infrastructure.
âThese will give clarity to operators and users about what levels of service they should expect in the face of short and long term disruptions, and ensure regulators have a clear yardstick against which they can ensure sufficient investment in resilience is made, proportionate to the risk.â
In a disaster movie, Russian and Chinese spies infiltrate our national infrastructure and launch a devastating cyber attack, freezing our transport and communications as a prelude to invasion. The opening scene? Britainâs main airport is engulfed in a fireball, writes Jake Wallis Simons.
We are living in a time when reality is starting to converge with Hollywood doomsday scenarios. Just look at the pictures of the fireball at Heathrow.
You almost expect Tom Hanks to make an appearance as Sir Keir Starmer, with Christopher Walken playing Vladimir Putin and, I donât know, James Corden as Donald Trump.
But this is serious. Heathrow closed? This sort of scandal hasnât occurred since the mysterious Gatwick drone incident of 2018, when 140,000 passengers were affected; and before that, the 2010 volcano eruptions in Iceland. The economic damage will be eye-watering. And I canât be alone in worrying that this is more than a random malfunction.
Jake Wallis Simons: We are woefully underprepared for security threats
The National Grid has said electrical supplies have been reconnected to Heathrow Airport.
The news raises hopes that the airport may be able to re-open tomorrow, although a Heathrow spokesman said the closure will remain in place until at least the end of the day while systems inside the airportâs terminals are turned back on and tested to ensure they are working properly.
A National Grid spokesman said: âWorking in partnership with the local network operator SSEN Distribution (SSEN), the network has been reconfigured to restore all customers impacted, including the ability to resupply the parts of Heathrow airport that are connected to North Hyde.âThis is an interim solution while we carry out further work at North Hyde to return the substation and our network to normal operation. âWe are continuing to work closely with all stakeholders to manage this incident, and are focused on returning to normal resilience levels as soon as possible.â
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it was in close contact with Heathrow Airport, airlines and No 10.
Selina Chadha, the CAAâs group director for consumers, said: âPassengers are advised not to travel to Heathrow at this time and should contact their airlines for the latest flight updates.
âWe appreciate the difficulties that travel disruption causes and we expect airlines to take all necessary steps to support and assist their passengers during this period of disruption.
âThe Civil Aviation Authority remains in close contact with Heathrow Airport, airlines and the Government during this time.â
A fire the likes of which has never happened before. One which instantly closes Europeâs biggest air hub at a time of rising geo-political tensions, and just as a meeting of the continentâs most senior defence chiefs breaks up. Can it really be a coincidence?
We donât yet know what caused the fire which broke out at an electricity sub station which supplies Heathrow in the early hours of Friday morning, but the British security services will be all over it. Every inch of the area will be subjected to a bank of forensic checks as will all CCTV and communications for miles around.The reason is simple: the fire has all the hallmarks of Russian state-sponsored terrorism â a hybrid form of war that has been raging in Europe for more than three years now.Ministers and security officials donât want to alarm the public but there have been sabotage operations recorded in 15 countries including Britain linked to Russian intelligence since Vladimir Putin rolled his tanks into Ukraine in late February 2022. Itâs many if you go back to the invasion of Crimea in 2014.They include train derailments, arson attacks on warehouses and transport planes, assassination plots against industrialists, car rammings, election interference, social engineering and, yes, attacks on vital infrastructure including power and communications lines.
Paul Nuki: This bears all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism
Heathrow said it does not have âclarity on when power may be reliably restoredâ.
A spokesman said: âHeathrow is experiencing a significant power outage across the airport due to a large fire at a nearby electrical substation.
âWhilst fire crews are responding to the incident, we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored.
âWe expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.
âWe will provide an update when more information on the resumption of operations is available.
âWe know this will be disappointing for passengers and we want to reassure that we are working as hard as possible to resolve the situation.â
Heathrow Airport has said its back-up systems worked âas expectedâ in response to the fire.
âWe have multiple sources of energy into Heathrow. But when a source is interrupted, we have back-up diesel generators and uninterruptable power supplies in place, and they all operated as expected.
âOur back-up systems are safety systems which allow us to land aircraft and evacuate passengers safely, but they are not designed to allow us to run a full operation.
âAs the busiest airport in Europe, Heathrow uses as much energy as a small city, therefore itâs not possible to have back-up for all of the energy we need to run our operation safely.
âWe are implementing a process which will allow us to redirect power to the affected areas, but this is a safety critical process which takes time, and maintaining safety remains our priority, so we have taken the decision to close the airport for today.â
British Airways said in a statement it has cancelled âall short-haul flightsâ scheduled to serve Heathrow on Friday.
A spokesperson for BA said: âFollowing the power outage that has caused the closure of London Heathrow Airport, we have had to cancel all short-haul flights that were due to operate to and from the airport today.
âOur teams are currently working hard to review our long-haul schedule as well as the implications for our schedule for tomorrow and beyond.
âWe will update our customers as soon as possible and we continue to ask them not to travel to Heathrow Airport, but to check on ba.com for the latest flight information.â
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has spoken to Thomas Woldbye, the Heathrow chief executive, about when the airport will reopen.
Ms Alexander said: âThis morning, I spoke with Heathrow Airportâs chief executive to hear the latest on the unprecedented power outage and I am reassured theyâre working tirelessly to reopen the airport as soon as possible,â the Transport Secretary said in a statement.
âI would like to thank everyone involved in responding to this situation â particularly the emergency workers who have worked to contain the fire and keep everyone safe.
âI appreciate how disruptive this situation is for passengers, but until they hear otherwise, the advice remains to avoid travelling to Heathrow.â
Heathrow is currently closed until tomorrow, with flight disruption expected to last for the rest of the weekend.
Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, asked whether Heathrow Airport âput profit ahead of reliabilityâ.
He said: âHeathrow management have failed the nation. They have serious questions to answer.
âWhy have they left our most critical infrastructure exposed to just one sub station? Where was the back up?
âIs it true the back up was made net zero compliant and it failed when activated? Have Heathrow put profit ahead of reliability? We need answers, and quickly.â
Downing Street has said there are âquestions to answerâ about how a single fire shut down Heathrow airport.
A No 10 spokesman said: âThere will no doubt be questions to answer on how this has happened and what can be done to prevent a repeat.â
However, he said the âimmediateâ priority was to get the situation under control.
He said he did not have any operational updates on the causes of the fire, but that would form part of âany subsequent investigationâ.
The spokesman added: âLetâs focus on getting the situation under control and the questions can be posed once that is in hand. Thatâs the immediate priority.
âBut yeah, there are questions to answer and we will be asking those to ensure the scale of disruption does not happen again.â
The former boss of British Airways has said the Heathrow shutdown begs some âserious questionsâ for the airport.
Willie Walsh, Director General of the International Air Transport Association, said: âThis is yet another case of Heathrow letting down both travellers and airlines. And that begs some serious questions.
âFirstly, how is it that critical infrastructureâof national and global importanceâis totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative.
âIf that is the caseâas it seemsâthen it is a clear planning failure by the airport.
âAnd, from that arises the question of who bears the costs of taking care of disrupted travellers. We must find a fairer allocation of passenger care costs than airlines alone picking up the tab when infrastructure fails. Until that happens, Heathrow has very little incentive to improve.â
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: âWe are working with the London Fire Brigade to establish the cause of the fire which remains under investigation. While there is currently no indication of foul play we retain an open mind at this time.
âGiven the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure, the Metâs Counter Terrorism Command is now leading enquiries.
âThis is due to the specialist resources and capabilities within that command that can assist in progressing this investigation at pace to minimise disruption and identify the cause.â
Residents on Nestles Avenue in Hayes said they woke to the sound of a âmassive bangâ and windows shaking as the explosion erupted.
âI was watching a movie when I heard a big bang and my windows were shaking,â Azam Ali, 82, said. âI looked out and then I saw the fire engines, then the firemen were running up to the substation.
âThere was massive black smoke and all these flats were evacuated and my electricity went off. I thought it was a gas blow. It was massive. The flames were about 50 metres on top of this building in front with a big black cloud.â
Mr Ali, who has lived on Nestles Avenue since 1985 and used to work in high value cargo for British Airways, questioned how the explosion had cut off electricity to Heathrow.
âHow can the outage blow, I donât know. Itâs electric itâs not gas. How can Heathrow depend on this outrage here?
âIt was scary but it was very interesting because I didnât know the cause of it. I canât understand how that thing blew. Itâs so confusing.â
Putin ally and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has taunted Sir Keir Starmer over the Heathrow shutdown.
In a post on X, he said: âIâm looking forward to Russia being blamed for the Heathrow fire. What are you waiting for, Starmer?â.
Savita Kapur, 51, said ânight turned to dayâ as the fire erupted on Nestles Avenue last night.
âIt was the 11.30 at night on the dot and my living room shook. I heard a loud bang, and basically, night turned today within 10 minutes. It was awful.
âI was so scared, I picked up my phone and ran outside. I saw the inferno because it was literally just yards away from my house. I thought, Oh, my God, this is not happening and dialled 999.â
Ms Kapur, who owns her own fashion business, added that the âground shookâ following the second explosion as she evacuated her 80-year-old mother.
âI was quite scared, because if it was windy like this last night, I think the situation would have been a lot worse because of the fire, and then the second explosion went off 12 oâclock. I remember that because I had my elderly mother in the car trying to get her to safety to my sisterâs house, and the ground shook because the explosion was that loud and that intense.â
They are now waiting for news on when they can return to their home.
The substation fire in Hayes involved 25,000 litres of cooling oil fully alight, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said.
Speaking to broadcasters at the scene in Hayes, London Fire Brigade deputy commissioner Jonathan Smith said: âAt 8.23pm on the evening of the 20th of March, London Fire Brigade received 212 calls to a fire in a high-voltage substation near Heathrow Airport.
âThe fire involved a transformer comprising 25,000 litres of cooling oil fully alight. This created a major hazard due to the still live high-voltage equipment and the nature of the oil-fuelled fire.â
The Metropolitan Police declared a major incident for the fire at 12.42am on Friday, Mr Smith said.
Around 10 per cent of the substation remains alight. Some 67,000 households were left without power due to the incident and 5,000 homes remain without power.
There is also no power at Heathrow Airport terminals two or four, Mr Smith said.
A senior National Grid executive has said reports that a backup generator was taken out by the electricity substation fire in Hayes are incorrect, reports Matt Oliver.
The substation hosts transformers, which are used to convert high voltage electricity from the national grid into power that can be distributed to homes.
One transformer was damaged by the late night blaze, with another transformer beside it - one that could have been used as a backup - also damaged by the same fire, the Telegraph understands.
However, a third transformer remains available and has not been damaged by the fire with grid engineers now working to get it online.
Alice Delahunty, president of National Gridâs electricity transmission business, said engineers were also seeking to reroute power to Heathrow from other nearby substations.
She said: âThere has been some confusion. There isnât backup generation, per se, on the substation site. But there are different levels of redundancy, and this is a very significant and serious event, so it has had a wider impact than you would normally expect.
âThe challenge we have right now is that weâve had a very significant fire, and therefore thereâs been wider-ranging implications for our network and the distribution network.
âSo weâre just very focused on reestablishing other routes by which we can supply Heathrow. Weâve got to reconfigure the network, make the site safe to do that, and thatâs what weâre entirely focused on.â
Counter-terrorism police are involved in the investigation into the fire that has shut down Heathrow airport.
The Telegraph understands specialist detectives are on site at the North Hyde electrical substation after a blast there shortly before midnight.
The officers were sent to the scene in Hayes in West London as a âprecautionary measureâ.
A Metropolitan police source added that the presence did not confirm foul play or sabotage.
Officers from Counter Terrorism Command â also known as SO15 â will play a key role to try to establish whether or not any hostile agents were involved in triggering the blaze.
Sir Keir Starmer said he was âreceiving regular updatesâ on the Heathrow Airport fire as he thanked emergency workers.
The Prime Minister wrote on X, formerly Twitter:
I know the situation in Heathrow is causing distress and disruption, especially for those travelling or without power in their homes.I'm receiving regular updates and I'm in close contact with partners on the ground.Thanks to our emergency workers for keeping people safe.
Six schools in Hayes have been forced to close today because of the fire at the North Hyde Electricity Substation.
In a statement, Hillingdon Council also said that refuse and recycling collections in the area would be affected.
Nestles Avenue Early Years Centre, Pinkwell Childrenâs Centre, Pinkwell Primary School, Botwell House Catholic Primary School, Dr Triplettâs Church of England Primary School and The Global Academy have all shut today.
Bus routes in the area have further been affected, with diversions in place, while the Elizabeth Line is not running between Hayes and Harlington and Heathrow.
A woman hoping to fly to Dubai later today travelled to Heathrow Airport after British Airways told her that her flight would still go ahead.
Elvina Quaison, who lives in London, told the PA news agency she had seen news of the fire but was initially assured her flight would still depart.
âMy flightâs meant to be at 12.40pm and Iâd been checking the news, the websites and my emails,â Ms Quaison told the PA news agency.
âIâm flying with BA and they had said that we should keep an eye on our âmanage my bookingâ and it would give us an update as to what was happening with my flight. So I got a message [at 8am] to say that my flight was departing and that I can go ahead as normal.
âSo Iâve come to the airport to make the flight which I was told was flying today and I canât get to the actual airport ... Iâm just about to call to see what to do.â
Disruption caused by the closure of Heathrow Airport will continue âfor the next few daysâ, the chief executive of an independent travel agent network has said.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, who runs Advantage Travel Partnerships, said: âAn incident like this at one of the worldâs busiest airports will have a very significant knock-on impact on all travel for the next few days.
âOf course, the priority for everyone is safety and the airport and the airlines will be working hard today to make sure the area is safe, and that they can resume operations as soon as possible.â
Ms Bue-Said noted Friday was typically the busiest day for air travel as passengers return from business trips, go on holiday, and visit friends and family.
âLondon airports would have been busy today already and this incident will exacerbate it further,â she added.
âFor anyone that has a flight booked out of Heathrow today, and had booked via a travel agent, I recommend contacting them in the first instance as they will be able to provide the latest information and advice.â
Sir Sadiq Khan has acknowledged the closure of Heathrow Airport will be âhugely frustratingâ.
In a statement, the Labour Mayor of London said: âHeathrow Airport is closed today due to a power outage caused by a fire at a nearby electrical substation. The fire is having a significant impact on the local area with the airport closed, other businesses affected and homes left without power.
âI know this will be hugely frustrating for the many thousands expecting to travel to and from Heathrow today, the families who have had their power cut and the commuters who have had their journeys disrupted.
âIâd like to thank the emergency services who have been working hard overnight to tackle the fire, and I remain in close contact with them, as I have been overnight. Thankfully, there are no reports of any injuries.
âElectricity suppliers are working hard to restore power, but Heathrow Airport have said they will be closed all day and has warned of significant disruption over the coming days.
âPassengers are advised not to travel to the airport under any circumstances and I urge Londoners to follow the advice of emergency services and their travel providers.â
A video producer has accused hotels of âabsolutely absurdâ price increases following the Heathrow closure.
Louis, who did not wish to share his surname, was due to fly back to Dublin with Aer Lingus on Friday but his trip home is among more than 1,300 flights that have been cancelled.
The 28 year-old told the PA news agency he was forced to book a new room at a different hotel, saying nearby hotels had increased their prices as a result of the disruption.
He said his original room cost around ÂŁ90, but he had seen the same room on Booking.com for ÂŁ280.
âTheyâve actually doubled, if not, in some cases, tripled the prices of the rooms based on whatâs going on, which is absolutely absurd,â Louis said.
âTheyâre profiting off of peopleâs misfortunes in this. I donât know how thatâs allowed... Itâs frustrating, but itâs just beyond control.â
One couple have been left  worried they may not see their son for another year after the cancellation of flights to San Francisco.
Barbara Owen, 72, and Peter Marsden, 69, had driven down from Manchester on Thursday before they woke to news of the closure this morning.
They only see their eldest son and grandchildren once a year, meaning their reunion could be postponed depending on the backlog of flights.
âIt highlights the fact there should be a back-up plan for airports,â Ms Owen said.
âWe have to wait for them to wake up to plan what weâre going to do.â
Around 291,000 passengers were scheduled to fly in and out of Heathrow airport today, according to Cirium, the aviation analytics site.
The airport was scheduled to see 665 departures on Friday, equating to over 145,094 seats, with a further 669 flights due to arrive.
British Airways has the largest share of flights from the airport today at 51 per cent, which is followed by Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa.
Heathrow airport handled just under 84 million passengers last year and the disruption has come on the airportâs busiest day of the week.
Some 83,857,000 passengers were recorded at Heathrowâs terminals in 2024, according to the Civil Aviation Authority, which is nearly double the number of the next busiest airport in the UK.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, the chief executive of The Advantage Travel Partnership, said: âThe situation at Heathrow airport is incredibly difficult, an incident like this at one of the worldâs busiest airports will have a very significant knock-on impact on all travel for the next few days.
âFriday is typically the busiest day for travel with people returning from business trips, going on holiday or visiting friends and family, Â so all airports will likely be incredibly busy.
âTherefore, the reality is that the London airports would have been busy today already and this incident will exacerbate it further.â
Last year, the number of Heathrow passengers was equivalent to 229,000 people per day.
Friends Mark Loweth, 24 and Tony Rogers, 21, have been forced to reschedule their weekend away in Madrid after their British Airways flight was cancelled.
The pair found out about the closure at Heathrow from traffic alerts on motorway road signs when they were 10 minutes away from the airport.
âIt canât be helped but you get everything booked and youâre looking forward to it and then you find out itâs closed.â
The two friends had football stadium tours booked at Real Madridâs Bernabeu and Atletico Madridâs Metropolitano.
Looking on the brighter side, Mr Rogers, who had travelled from Salisbury, Wiltshire, added: âAt least I can actually watch the Formula 1 on Sunday.â
Ed Miliband has said a backup generator that should have taken over powering Heathrow was also affected by the fire.
However, he said there was a secondary backup and that the National Grid was working to get this online to restore electricity to the airport.
The Cabinet minister told Sky News: âAs I understand it from the National Grid, there was a backup generator but that was also affected by the fire, which gives a sense of how unusual and unprecedented it was.
âThere is a second backup which they are seeking to use to restore power so there are backup mechanisms in place but given the scale of this fire the backup mechanisms also seem to have been affected.
âBut obviously with any incident like this we will want to understand why it happened and what if any lessons it has for our infrastructure.â
Ed Miliband said there was âno suggestion that there is foul playâ involved in the fire that forced Heathrow airport to close.
The Cabinet minister said the huge blaze appeared to be an accident based on conversations he has had with officials following the incident.
Asked if foul play could be ruled out, Mr Miliband told LBC: âThereâs no suggestion that there is foul play.â
Pressed on whether it was simply a âcatastrophic accidentâ, Mr Miliband said: âThe conversation Iâve had is with the National Grid, the chief executive of the National Grid and certainly, thatâs what he said to me.â
Disappointed passengers have taken refuge in a nearby McDonalds after their holiday hopes were dashed by the airportâs closure.
Marcus Bull, 52 and his wife Jennifer, 49, discovered that Heathrow was closed when they arrived at the airport at 6.30am to find the car parks closed.
The couple, who had set off early from Northampton, were supposed to be flying to Barcelona for a friendâs anniversary at 10am.
âItâs stressful,â Mrs Bull said. âIt was going to be our friendâs first time on a plane and their daughter was so excited looking at planes last night.â
They started searching for alternative flights to the Spanish city as soon as their booking was cancelled but saw prices increase by ÂŁ100 in minutes as demand soared and tickets sold out.
âPeople will lose one or two days holiday trying to sort things. Itâs better to cancel the whole thing and hope to get it back on insurance,â Mrs Bull said.
âEverybodyâs been so unlucky,â added Mr Bull.
Airline shares have dropped at the start of stock market trading following the closure of Heathrow airport for the day.
International Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of British Airways, slumped by as much as 3.4 per cent, making it the worst performer on the FTSE 100 in London.
EasyJet fell as much as 2 per cent while Wizz Air, the Hungarian discount airline, dropped by some 2.1 per cent to make it one of the hardest hit companies on the FTSE 250.
Holiday group Tui fell as much as 2.4 per cent in Germany.
The closure of Heathrow airport will prompt the Government to look at the âprotection and the resilienceâ of other critical national infrastructure, Ed Miliband has said.
The Energy Secretary said ministers will want to understand what caused the fire and also âlearn lessons from itâ.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: âIt is too early to say what caused this but I think obviously we will have to look hard at the causes, and also the protection and the resilience that is in place for major institutions like Heathrow.
âWith any event like this we will have to both understand its causes and learn lessons from it.â
An aviation expert has compared disruption caused by the closure of Heathrow to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US in 2001.
John Strickland, an aviation consultant, said: âItâs a contained version of 9/11 or, to an extent, the Icelandic volcanic eruption.
âI remembered seeing on those occasions â particularly more so on 9/11 â it happened so quick and then US airspace was closed, they were turning back aircraft and holding planes.
The fire at an electrical substation that led to the closure of Heathrow airport is now under control, the London Fire Brigade said.
Pat Goulbourne, the assistant commissioner, said: âThis was a very visible and significant incident, and our firefighters worked tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible.
âThanks to their efforts and co-ordinated multi-agency response, we successfully contained the fire and prevented further spread.
âWe will maintain a presence at the scene throughout the day, assisting the National Grid as they assess the site.â
He added: âThe fire has caused a widespread power outage, affecting many homes, local businesses and Heathrow airport. While power has been restored to some properties, we continue to work closely with our partners to minimise disruption.â
The fire brigade safely evacuated 29 people from neighbouring properties and another 150 people from a 200-metre precautionary cordon around the site.
Mr Goulbourne continued: âDue to the significant smoke, we strongly advise local residents to keep their windows and doors closed as some smoke will remain for a number of hours today. Scientific advisers will also be on-site this morning to conduct further assessments and monitor the air quality.â
There have been no casualties or anyone treated for injuries after the large fire at an electrical substation in Hayes, the London Ambulance Service said.
Hazardous area response teams and an incident response officer are currently on the scene, they said.
âWe are currently supporting emergency services colleagues at the scene of a fire in Hayes,â a spokesman said.
âPlease try to avoid the area and if you live nearby, stay indoors and keep windows closed.â
Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, has described the situation at Heathrow as âfast-movingâ.
She posted on X: âIâm receiving updates on the fast-moving situation at Heathrow airport.
âIâm grateful to emergency services responding to the fire and National Grid for working to restore power to the airport and homes.
âIâd urge passengers not to travel to the airport and contact their airline.â
Ed Miliband said he was unsure whether the Government would call a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee in response to the fire.
Asked about the possibility during a morning interview on Sky News, the Energy Secretary said: âI am sure that the Government will be convening in the most appropriate way.
âI am not going to anticipate the precise form of that.â
Heathrow has closed its car parks to stop any passengers reaching the terminals, alongside cordoning off several roads at the scene.
Traffic lights are also not working, although it is unclear if this is a result of the power outage.
The closure of Heathrow airport will cause âterrible disruptionâ for thousands of passengers, Ed Miliband said.
The Cabinet minister said the restoration of power to the site âis not going to happen immediatelyâ.
He told Sky News: âMy heart goes out to all of the people affected by this, people who are flying into Heathrow, people who are flying out of Heathrow.
âIt is obviously a terrible disruption for them. I think the best I can say at this point is that Heathrow will be working to do everything they can for those passengers, as will the Department for Transport and obviously the priority is to get power restored so the airport can start to get back to normal.
âObviously that is not going to happen immediately, that is going to take time.â
Heathrow is eerily quiet this morning following the airportâs closure.
Roads have been cordoned off to prevent passengers reaching the terminals and a sign reading âairport closed, contact airlineâ is blocking the usually busy taxi route into Terminals 2 and 3.
Staff at the scene said the roads have been closed since the early hours in an effort to prevent hopeful travellers reaching the terminal gates.
Several passengers,who did not know of the closure, have arrived only to find the road blocked.
Ed Miliband has said it is âtoo earlyâ to know the cause of the fire that has forced Heathrow airport to close. The Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary said it was âobviously an unusual eventâ, adding that authorities are working to extinguish the fire and restore power âas soon as possibleâ.
He told Sky News: âI have spoken to the National Grid this morning who have talked me through what happened which was a catastrophic fire at a substation, the substation that serves Heathrow.
âWork is ongoing to put the fire out and to restore power as soon as possible, and that is what the National Grid and obviously the fire brigade and others are working on. âBut this is what they describe as a catastrophic fire at the substation and it is obviously a fast moving picture and they are doing everything they can to both obviously get the fire out and restore power.â Asked if he knew the cause of the fire, Mr Miliband said: âThe thing is it is just too early to know that to be honest. This has obviously happened overnight. âIt is obviously an unusual event, not something that has happened before. The main priority at the moment is to get the fire out and the grid are working at getting Heathrow restored.â
Passengers who arrived at Heathrow early this morning were left stranded as they looked for alternative travel.
At least six flights will land at Shannon airport in Co Clare, Ireland, after being diverted from Heathrow.
A spokesman for the Shannon Airport Group said: âWe are closely monitoring the situation at Heathrow airport and are providing support by accommodating diverted flights as needed and our team is on-site to assist with the additional passengers.
âSo far, Shannon airport has facilitated six diverted flights originally scheduled to land at Heathrow, including flights from Toronto, Atlanta, Bridgetown Barbados, Boston, Orlando and Newark.
âThe first of these flights landed safely at 4.26am this morning.â
At least 1,351 flights going to and from Heathrow will be affected by the closure in a major disruption bound to trigger chaos at airports around the world.
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Find out whether you may or may not be entitled to compensation below.
Some flights originally bound for Heathrow may have to divert outside the UK.
Eurocontrol, the air traffic control organisation which runs Europeâs skies, warned airlines that British airportsâ ability to accept Heathrow diversions was already âsaturatedâ.
In a bulletin seen by The Telegraph and sent at 6.27am today, Eurocontrol said:
âDiversion capacity is saturated within the UK, and operators should plan diversions outside of the UK.
âPlease be aware that some European airports are now reporting limited diversion capacity especially for wide-body aircraft.
âScheduled flights to other airports are not affected, however should plan to divert outside UK.â
Both London Ambulance Service and police are on scene supporting fire crews.
Gatwick airport said it has accepted seven diverted flights from locations including Singapore, Johannesburg, Lagos, Cape Town and Doha which were originally destined for Heathrow.
âWe are aware of the situation at Heathrow airport today and we are supporting by accepting diverted flights as required,â an airport spokesman said.
More passengers affected by the closure are taking to social media to share their upended travel plans.
Lonnnnng day. Boarded flight at 6.30 US time (7 hours behind Edinburgh). Due to fly into Heathrow before catching a connecting flight to Edinburgh. Now 23.27 over here in US and now off the flight. I best be home for @HibernianWomen's final .âŚ. #Heathrow knackered https://t.co/yxz8MQ9PpG
A National Grid spokesperson said the fire had damaged equipment and crews were âworking at speed to restore power supplies as quickly as possibleâ.
London Fire Brigade said 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters were still on the scene at Nestles Avenue in Hayes just before 6am with part of a transformer still alight.
Some passengers have begun to share their travel woes on social media.
Adrian Spender, who works at British retailer Tesco, said in a post on X that he was on board an Airbus A380 that had been headed for Heathrow.
âHeathrow no idea where we are going yet. Currently over Austria,â he said.
Currently on an A380 destined for⌠??? pic.twitter.com/3FrSyQHXTr
British Airways customers travelling today are among thousands around the world enduring travel chaos.
The airline had 341 flights scheduled to arrive at Heathrow on Friday, but there are varied outcomes for flights taking off throughout the day.
The Telegraphâs search of British Airways flights from several airports around the world shows that planes due to arrive at Heathrow before midnight tonight have been cancelled or delayed overnight.
Many flights taking off today and arriving tomorrow morning appear to be unaffected.
In a statement, British Airways acknowledged the widespread impact of the closure on its operations.
âThis will clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers, and we are working as quickly as possible to update them on their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond,â it said.
An airline departure board at Singaporeâs Changi airport showed that a TAP Air Portugal flight to Heathrow was cancelled.
Travel experts have said the disruption will extend far beyond Heathrow.
This is because airlinesâ carefully choreographed networks depend on planes and crews being in specific locations at specific times.
Dozens of air carriers will have to rush to reconfigure their networks to move planes and crews around.
âThe other question is, âWhat will airlines do to deal with the backlog of passengers?ââ, said travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt with Atmosphere Research Group.
âItâs going to be a chaotic couple of days.â
Gatwick airport is âready to support as requiredâ as thousands of flights are affected by the chaos at Heathrow.
In a statement to the BBC, a Gatwick spokesperson said: âWe are aware of the situation at Heathrow Airport today and stand ready to support as required.
âFlights are operating from London Gatwick as normal today.â
âHeathrow is experiencing a significant power outage across the airport due to a large fire at a nearby electrical substation. Whilst fire crews are responding to the incident, we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored.
âTo maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23h59 on 21 March 2025. We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.
âWe will provide an update when more information on the resumption of operations is available. 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.â
Heathrowâs sudden closure will impact at least 1,351 flights to and from the airport, FlightRadar24 said.
âThat doesnât include any flights that might be cancelled or delayed due to aircraft being out of position,â it wrote in a post on Bluesky.
Today's total closure of London-Heathrow will affect at least 1,351 flights to/from LHR.
That doesn't include any flights that might be canceled or delayed due to aircraft being out of position.[image or embed]
National Rail said the following train routes have been disrupted as a result of the mass power outage:
â ď¸ A fire on a property near the railway is causing disruption to services running to / from #HeathrowAirport.đ As a result, trains will may be cancelled or revised.
FlightRadar24 spokesman Ian Petchenik said Heathrowâs shutdown would bring disruption to flights around the world.
âHeathrow is one of the major hubs of the world,â he said.
âThis is going to disrupt airlinesâ operations around the world.â
The official aviation notice of closure listed the airportâs closing time as 1.43am.
A Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) such as this, is issued by aviation authorities to alert pilots and air traffic controllers about changes that could affect flight operations.
There are currently 120 aircraft in the air that will have to divert to alternate airports or return to their origins.
London-Heathrow will be closed for ALL of Friday due to a "significant power outage" caused by a fire in an electrical substation. There are currently 120 aircraft in the air that will be diverting to alternate airports or returning to their origins. https://t.co/TEHf2kJO23 pic.twitter.com/Lot0lsJLz8
The top of Heathrowâs website has been updated to include this red banner, informing passengers of the airportâs closure:
According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, some diversions to other airports are already occurring:
A Heathrow spokesperson said passengers should brace for significant disruption over the coming days because of the closure.
Passengers have been told to avoid the airport today and contact their airline for further information.
It is unknown when power to the airport will be restored.
Eurocontrol, which manages air traffic control operations across Europe, said on its operations website that no arrivals were being allowed at Heathrow due to the power outage and there were diversion plans in place for flights.
If youâre just joining us, a huge fire at an electrical substation in Hayes has sparked a mass power outage and caused Heathrow airport to close until Saturday (midnight tonight).
The substation supplies electricity to the airport and Heathrow said in a statement it had to close to âmaintain the safety of our passengers and colleaguesâ.
Around 150 people have been evacuated from surrounding properties and a 200-metre cordon has been put in place around the electrical substation as a precaution.
Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne said: âThis is a highly visible and significant incident, and our firefighters are working tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible.
âThe fire has caused a power outage affecting a large number of homes and local businesses, and we are working closely with our partners to minimise disruption.â
Firefighters led 29 people from surrounding properties to safety.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks in a statement said they were aware of the âwidespread power cutâ that is impacting more than 16,300 homes in the Hayes, Hounslow and surrounding areas.
We're aware of a widespread power cut affecting many of our customers around the Hayes, Hounslow and surrounding areas. We're estimating for power to be restored by 3am.Keep track online: https://t.co/8OKonBvGWL
Around 70 firefighters and 10 fire engines are working to extinguish the blaze at Nestles Avenue in Hayes, London Fire Brigade said.
Videos and photos posted on X showed the inferno raging from the substation, with flames and smoke pouring into the sky.
People on social media reported hearing a âbig explosionâ before the blaze erupted late on Thursday night.
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⌠pic.twitter.com/7SWNJP8ojd
A massive fire has broken out near Heathrow and the airport has confirmed it will be closed until midnight tonight.
Follow our live blog for the latest on this developing story.
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