A loss of power forced London\u2019s Heathrow airport, one of the world\u2019s busiest, to shut down on Friday morning, prompting chaos and disrupting travel for tens of thousands of air passengers.<\/p>\n
In a post on social media website X, the airport blamed a fire at an electrical substation in North Hyde in Hayes, west London, for the power outage and said it did not expect to reopen until early on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Flights were reported to have been diverted to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Shannon and Manchester.<\/p>\n
It is not yet clear what, exactly, caused the fire. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s office told the UK\u2019s Guardian newspaper on Friday afternoon that the incident would be thoroughly investigated. \u201cThere are questions to answer on how this has happened and what can be done to prevent the scale of disruption we\u2019ve seen from happening again, once the situation is under control,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we know so far about what happened and the disruption the closure has caused.<\/p>\n
Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage.<\/p>\n
To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23h59 on 21 March.<\/p>\n
Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/7SWNJP8ojd<\/p>\n
On Friday, the London Fire Brigade\u2019s deputy commissioner, Jonathan Smith, revealed that as well as the airport itself, 67,000 households had their power cut. No one was hurt, but firefighters evacuated nearly 180 people. Earlier, officials advised residents in the area to shut windows and doors due to huge plumes of smoke.<\/p>\n
In a statement posted on X early on Friday, Heathrow airport advised passengers and staff to stay away from the premises and said it was not expected to open again before midnight.<\/p>\n
\u201cPassengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
Passengers who were already at Heathrow before the shutdown told of chaotic scenes.<\/p>\n
Marhea, 74, who was booked on a Brussels Airlines flight to Liberia said there was darkness and confusion when she arrived, with no staff in sight to explain what had happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t let us into terminal five. People were standing at the door everywhere [\u2026] It would have been nice if they had people at the door to explain what had happened,\u201d she said. The airline later booked her on a Saturday flight with a separate carrier.<\/p>\n
Others were refunded. One traveller, identified as Ellen, said she was booked on a British Airways flight before Friday\u2019s chaos.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were supposed to fly to Venice this morning from Heathrow for a day trip for my 30th birthday present, it was a surprise booked by my cousin for the two of us,\u201d Ellen told Al Jazeera. \u201cWe have been offered a full refund by the airline so won\u2019t be travelling now this weekend but will try to rearrange for another weekend soon,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Passengers with suitcases wait on a nearby road after an electrical substation fire knocked out power to London\u2019s Heathrow airport on Friday, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers at one of Europe\u2019s biggest travel hubs [Kin Cheung\/AP]\nWhat caused the fire?
\nThe cause is still unknown.<\/p>\n
On late Friday morning, the London Fire Brigade\u2019s deputy commissioner, Jonathan Smith, said the fire had been made worse by fuel in a transformer \u201ccomprising of 25,000 litres of cooling oil, fully alight\u201d.<\/p>\n
Several UK media outlets, citing unnamed officials, reported that counterterrorism officials had been sent by the London Metropolitan Police to investigate the causes of the fire as a precautionary measure.<\/p>\n
The Metropolitan Police was quoted saying it would \u201cretain an open mind\u201d but that there were no suspicions of sabotage.<\/p>\n
Speaking to LBC Radio earlier on Friday morning, UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: \u201cThere is no suggestion that there is foul play.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday, experts were questioning why the airport\u2019s backup plans appeared to have been \u201cinadequate\u201d. Dr Alan Mendoza, from the UK-based Henry Jackson Society, a foreign policy and national security think tank, told The Times: \u201cFires happen. But they shouldn\u2019t be capable of taking out an entire airport as it suggests backup systems are inadequate. A full national audit is required to prevent recurrences.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement issued later on Friday, Heathrow claimed its backup systems had kicked in, but that they are \u201cnot designed to allow us run a full operation\u201d. Rather, the statement clarified, the systems allow for aircraft to land and for people to be evacuated.<\/p>\n
Alice Delahunty, president of National Grid Electricity Transmission, told UK media: \u201cWe have a number of very strict protocols, remote monitoring; security is something we take very seriously. The site is certainly secured.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where is Heathrow and where did the fire occur?
\nHeathrow is located on the outskirts of west London, in the borough of Hillingdon. The airport is the busiest in Europe and one of the busiest in the world, based on passenger traffic.<\/p>\n
The fire occurred in an area close to Heathrow, at the North Hyde electrical substation in Hayes, about a 20-minute drive from the airport.<\/p>\n
How many flights have been delayed or cancelled?
\nAt least 1,357 flights have been disrupted, according to air traffic monitor, FlightRadar24.<\/p>\n
Some 679 flights had been scheduled to land at the airport, while 678 flights had been expected to take off, the monitor said.<\/p>\n
Most flights that were to land at Heathrow were diverted to Amsterdam\u2019s Schiphol Airport. Others were rerouted to Frankfurt andManchester. UK media reported flights being diverted to Paris and Shannon in Ireland as well.<\/p>\n
Flightradar24 said 120 aircraft waiting to be diverted were still in the air on Friday morning after the disruptions.<\/p>\n
Some passengers said they had been informed of cancellations and diversions hours before their flight, while many others were stuck at Heathrow or connecting airports.<\/p>\n
Lloyd, 34, who was planning to travel to the United States via Heathrow to visit his partner, received an email as he was en route to Glasgow Airport on Friday morning informing him that his 6:35am flight had been rescheduled to a later time and to a different airport in the US. By the time he got to the airport, his flight had been cancelled and he was advised not to travel from Glasgow to Heathrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps because we hadn\u2019t set off to London yet, we weren\u2019t as upset as those now stuck in Heathrow,\u201d Lloyd told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
Firefighters
\nFirefighters wait at the area around the North Hyde electrical substation, which caught fire on Thursday night and led to a closure of Heathrow airport in London, on Friday, March 21, 2025 [Kirsty Wigglesworth\/AP]\nHow many flights and passengers pass through Heathrow?
\nAccording to Heathrow\u2019s data, some 67 million passengers pass through the airport every year. That is close to the population of the whole of the UK.<\/p>\n
Passenger traffic broke records in 2024 when the airport recorded more than 83 million passengers \u2013 about 220,000 people a day.<\/p>\n
The airport handles about 1,300 flights daily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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