Heathrow airport closed: more than 1,000 flights affected after substation fire causes power outage – live
More than 1,000 flights will be affected
Some more details from Flightradar24, which says that more than 1,000 flights will be impacted by the sudden closure of Heathrow today.
“Today’s total closure of London-Heathrow will affect at least 1,351 flights to/from LHR,” the flight tracker said in a post on Bluesky, “That doesn’t include any flights that might be canceled or delayed due to aircraft being out of position.”
Key events
The National Grid UK has issued the following statement via social media.
“A fire at North Hyde substation in West London has damaged equipment, leading to a loss of power supply in the area. We are working at speed to restore power supplies as quickly as possible and will provide an update as soon as we can.”
The Hayes fire has forced planes to divert or be cancelled around the world.
British Airways itself had 341 flights scheduled to land at Heathrow on Friday.
“This 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,” it said.
Meanwhile, all Virgin Atlantic flights arriving and departing flights from Heathrow are cancelled until midday on 21 March, the airline said.
What we know so far
What started off as a fire at a electrical substation in Hayes, West London, has caused Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, to close until midnight on Friday. The substation supplies power to the major aviation hub.
If you are just tuning in, or waking up in the UK, here is what you need to know:
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In the early hours of Friday morning Heathrow airport announced that the airport would be closed until midnight on Friday due to a “significant power outage” caused by a substation fire.
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The shutdown occurred just hours before the global travel hub was due to open, forcing at least 120 flights that were already in the air to divert, according to Flightradar24.
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A spokesperson for the airport has told passengers not to travel to the airport “under any circumstances” and warned that “significant disruption” is expected in the coming days.
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Travel experts say the Heathrow closure will have a global impact, with dozens of air carriers forced to hurriedly reconfigure their networks to move planes and crews around as a result.
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Already, scores of flights are being diverted to other airports, with Qantas Airways sending its flight from Perth to Paris and a United Airlines New York flight heading to Shannon, Ireland. Some flights from the US were turning around mid-air and returning to their point of departure. A United Airlines flight from San Francisco was due to land in Washington, D.C. rather than London. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic diverted flights to nearby Gatwick.
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According to Flightradar24, more than 1,000 flights will be impacted by the sudden closure of Heathrow.
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On the ground, the Hayes fire is also causing significant disruption with power outages impacting more than 16,300 homes. Footage posted to social media showed huge flames and large plumes of smoke coming from the substation facility. The fire brigade said nearly 200 calls had been received in relation to the incident with crews from Hayes, Heathrow, Hillingdon, Southall and surrounding areas on the scene.
The closure of Heathrow is being felt around the world. In Singapore’s Changi airport a departure board shows an Air Portugal flight to Heathrow has been cancelled.
Heathrow closure ‘catastrophic for air traffic’ says aviation expert
Elias Visontay
Elias Visontay, our transport and urban affairs reporter, has spoken to an aviation expert who says that airlines around the world will now be grappling with a “logistical nightmare”.
Neil Hansford, head of the Sydney-based Strategic Aviation Solutions consultancy, said the closure of Heathrow for a day was “unheard of” for the industry.
While London’s other airports, such as Gatwick and Stansted, would traditionally take diverted flights, Heathrow’s scale means other airports in and near London do not have the capacity to absorb all of its operations.
“These airports can’t take anything close to the volume of Heathrow’s five terminals, where there’s an arrival every minute,” said Hansford.
Hansford said that even if airports such as Amsterdam’s Schiphol and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly could handle diverted arrivals, it was unclear what they would do from there to return to their flight schedules.
“If you land in Paris or Amsterdam, or even Manchester, how are you going to get your passengers and crew to London, and how are your outbound passengers and replacement crew going to get to the other city? Trains cannot do all of that moving. Every airline will be facing this problem today. Airlines base their staff in certain cities they fly to, but they may not have any staff in the cities they have to divert to.”
“Beyond positioning the crew, fuel will be a huge problem,” he added. “Airlines plan to refuel at Heathrow which has a huge supply, but other airports that accept diversions likely won’t be able to refuel all of these extra planes.”
Hansford said that even if Heathrow resumed operations by Saturday, the cascading flight disruptions would ripple through global aviation schedules for days, if not longer.
“It’s catastrophic for air traffic,” he said.
Gatwick airport accepting diverted flights
Elias Visontay
Many of the Heathrow-bound flights have diverted to London’s Gatwick, as airports around the United Kingdom and Europe brace for an influx of unexpected passengers.
A statement from a London Gatwick spokesperson said: “We are aware of the situation at Heathrow Airport today and we are supporting by accepting diverted flights as required. Flights are operating from London Gatwick as normal today.”
London Gatwick has so far accepted seven diverted flights originally scheduled to land at Heathrow, including flights from Singapore, Johannesburg, Lagos, Cape Town and Doha.
Meanwhile, other flights have diverted to Paris, among other cities.
Agence France-Presse has put together some facts about Heathrow.
The airport handles more than than 80 million passengers a year and the operator says there are around 1,300 takeoffs or landings a day.
In January, the government gave permission for Heathrow to build a third runway – which could be ready by 2035 – after years of legal wrangling brought on by complaints from local residents.
Five major airports serve the capital and towns nearby.
But capacity is stretched, especially at Heathrow whose two runways each measure almost four kilometres in length, while the airport covers a total area 12.3 square kilometres.
The airport opened in 1946 as London Airport before being renamed Heath Row, a hamlet demolished two years earlier to make way for the construction.
Situated 25km (15 miles) west of central London, the present Heathrow serves 200 destinations in more than 80 countries, with passengers having access to four terminals.
Among its main flight destinations last year were Dublin, Los Angeles, Madrid and New York.
Travel experts say the disruption will extend far beyond Heathrow
Airlines’ carefully choreographed networks depend on airplanes and crews being in specific locations at specific times. Dozens of air carriers will have to hurriedly reconfigure their networks to move planes and crews around after the Heathrow closure.
“The other question is, ‘What will airlines do to deal with the backlog of passengers?’”, said travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt with Atmosphere Research Group. “It’s going to be a chaotic couple of days.”
For our international readers getting their bearings, here is a handy map that shows how close the fire in Hayes is to Heathrow airport.
On the ground the Hayes fire is also causing significant disruption to residents in London.
Footage posted to social media showed huge flames and large plumes of smoke coming from the substation facility.
The fire brigade said nearly 200 calls had been received in relation to the incident with crews from Hayes, Heathrow, Hillingdon, Southall and surrounding areas on the scene.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said in a post on X there was a large-scale power outage in the area impacting more than 16,300 homes.
Emergency services were called to the scene at 11.23pm on Thursday.
The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
United Airlines has said that seven flights have returned to their origin or to other airports on Friday, with flights to Heathrow being canceled, according to Reuters.
More than 1,000 flights will be affected
Some more details from Flightradar24, which says that more than 1,000 flights will be impacted by the sudden closure of Heathrow today.
“Today’s total closure of London-Heathrow will affect at least 1,351 flights to/from LHR,” the flight tracker said in a post on Bluesky, “That doesn’t include any flights that might be canceled or delayed due to aircraft being out of position.”
At least 120 flights diverted
It’s going to be a chaotic day for some travellers with flight tracking website Flightradar24 saying that at least 120 flights in the air bound for Heathrow will have to divert due to the airport closure.
Scores of flights are already being diverted to other airports, with Qantas Airways sending its flight from Perth to Paris and a United Airlines New York flight heading to Shannon, Ireland. Some flights from the US were turning around mid-air and returning to their point of departure.
A United Airlines flight from San Francisco was due to land in Washington, D.C. rather than London. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic diverted flights to nearby Gatwick.
Heathrow is one of the busiest two-runway airports in the world with about 1,300 combined take-offs and landings a day, according to its website.
“Heathrow is one of the major hubs of the world,” said Ian Petchenik, spokesman for FlightRadar24. “This is going to disrupt airlines’ operations around the world.”
Commenting on the blaze, a spokesperson for Heathrow airport said to expect significant disruption over the coming days.
“Heathrow 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.
“We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.
“We 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.”
The London Fire Brigade has said that its crews remain at the scene of the fire in Hayes.
“Please continue to keep windows & doors closed due to smoke & avoid the area. This will be a prolonged incident, with crews remaining on scene throughout the night,” it said in a post on social media.
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The fire at the west London substation has forced Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports to shut down until midnight on Friday. The closure is likely to cause widespread disruption to travel plans.
According to data from the OAG, Heathrow was the second-busiest international airport in 2024, after Dubai (DXB).
OAG’s data showed that Heathrow (LHR) took second place after Dubai with 48.4 million seats, while airline capacity increased by 4% compared to 2023.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the closure of Heathrow airport following a fire at an electricity substation in Hayes. The fire led to a power outage that has left the airport without electricity.
Airport operators said the travel hub would be closed until midnight on March 21. Significant disruption to travel is expected and passengers should avoid the airport.
Fire crews are responding to the accident but there is no clarity on when power may be reliably restored, a Heathrow spokesperson told Reuters in an email, and added that they expect significant disruption over the coming days.
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.
Heathrow was the world’s second-busiest international airport in 2024 behind Dubai, according to travel data firm OAG.
The London Fire Brigade said its crews was tackling the fire in Hayes in west London and had evacuated around 150 people as a precaution.
Here is the full report:
