- Heathrow Airport will be closed throughout the day after a fire soon that caused the power outage.
- Heathrow is recommended that passengers not travel to the airport and contact their airlines.
- More than 1300 flights are expected to be affected.
Heathrow Airport in London, one of the most crowded match in the world, will be closed until Friday after a big fire broke out near.
Flightradar24 told the live aviation tracking platform, Business Insider that at least 1351 flights would be affected.
“Because of a fire at an electrical sub -station that supplies the airport, Heathrow is suffering from a major power cut,” the airport was published to X early Friday morning local time, saying that it will be closed until midnight directly.
The passengers advised not to travel to the airport, and contact their airlines for more information.
On Friday morning, dozens of people were waiting outside the fifth station. Rhythem Chauhan was one of them. She was there 5 am, waiting for the news of her trip to Delhi.
“It is a snare,” she told Business Insider, saying that she has not returned to India for five years.
Haitro Airport usually stopped on Friday, after a nearby fire that caused the power outage.
Business Insider/Thibault Sipper
Heathrow was the fourth most busy airports in the world in 2024, according to Oag, a travel data company, behind Tokyo Hanida Airport only, Dubai International Airport, and Hartfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Last year, about 83.9 million people flew through Heathrow, an increase of 6 % over the previous year. The airport says it welcomes more than 200,000 passengers a day.
A spokesman for the British Airways, one of the main airlines at the airport, told BI that “this will have a great impact on our work and customers.”
“We are working as quickly as possible to update their travel options for 24 hours and beyond,” they added.
The airline said it was already directing flights on its way to other UK airports.
Firefighters placed burning residue at the power plant near the London Heathrow Airport.
Lyon Neil/Getty Pictures
A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic, whose main position in the United Kingdom, Haitro, told Bi that the closure had a “major impact” on air operations to and from the airport. The customers also advised not to travel to Heathrow.
The spokesman said: “We are incredibly sorry for the turmoil that this will perform and work with our teams to ensure that customers can complete their flights as soon as possible,” the spokesman said.
Qatar Airways said, in the X publication, that the closure had affected five flights from London to Doha and four flights from Doha to London.
“The affected passengers will be carried out by the above by our customer teams and our airport teams,” he added.
The fire took place at a power station in Hayes in west of London, about 1.5 miles from the airport. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
The London Fire Brigade said in a post on X that 10 fire engines and about 70 firefighters were called to the scene.
Pictures show large fire and columns of thick black smoke. Local media reported that tens of thousands of homes in the region do not repeat power.
London Fire Fire brigade said about 150 people have been evacuated so far and 200 meters in place.
“This will be a long incident, while the teams remain in the scene overnight,” she said on her website. “While we go to the morning, the turmoil is expected to increase, and we urge people to avoid the area whenever possible.”
Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, said in a statement that electricity suppliers are working hard to restore energy, but Heathrow said that he would be closed “throughout the day and warned of a great disturbance in the coming days.”
In London there are many other international airports including Gatwick, Medina Airport, the second most in the city, Stansted, known as budget and flights to Europe.
Do you have a story to share on how your plans are affected by the closure of Heathrow? Contact PETE Syme in psyme@busInssider.com.
