Heathrow shutdown: What occurred, which flights have been disrupted?

A lack of energy compelled London Heathrow Airport, one of many world’s busiest, to close down on Friday morning, prompting chaos and disrupting journey for tens of 1000’s of air passengers.

In a submit on social media web site X, the airport blamed a fireplace at {an electrical} substation in North Hyde in Hayes, west London, for the facility outage and mentioned it didn’t count on to reopen till early on Saturday.

Aviation analyst Alex Macheras instructed Al Jazeera the knock-on impact of the historic disruptions could be big. “It might presumably take days” to get again to regular, he mentioned.

Flights have been diverted to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Manchester.

Right here’s what we learn about what occurred and the disruption the closure has prompted.

As a consequence of a fireplace at {an electrical} substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a major energy outage.

To take care of the security of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow can be closed till 23h59 on 21 March.

Passengers are suggested to not journey to the airport… pic.twitter.com/7SWNJP8ojd

— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) March 21, 2025

What occurred at Heathrow airport?

A big fireplace in {an electrical} substation serving Heathrow and surrounding areas has been blamed for chopping energy to the airport and inflicting the shutdown.

The blaze additionally prompted in depth energy outages for 1000’s of residential and industrial buildings in components of west London. Officers initially suggested residents within the space to close home windows and doorways as a result of big plumes of smoke.

In an announcement posted on X early on Friday, Heathrow Airport suggested passengers and workers to avoid the premises and mentioned it was not anticipated to open once more earlier than midnight.

“Passengers are suggested to not journey to the airport and will contact their airline for additional info. We apologise for the inconvenience,” the assertion learn.

Travellers instructed Al Jazeera that they had been provided reduction by some airways. One, recognized as Ellen, mentioned she was booked on a British Airways flight earlier than Friday’s chaos.

“We have been speculated to fly to Venice this morning from Heathrow for a day journey for my thirtieth birthday current, it was a shock booked by my cousin for the 2 of us,” Ellen instructed Al Jazeera. “We now have been provided a full refund by the airline so received’t be travelling now this weekend however will attempt to rearrange for an additional weekend quickly,” she mentioned.

What prompted the fireplace?

Fireplace officers mentioned the reason for the fireplace continues to be unclear – investigations are ongoing. They warned this might be a “extended incident” as firefighters battled the blaze early on Friday. It was introduced underneath management at about 06:30 GMT, in keeping with United Kingdom officers.

Talking to LBC Radio on Friday, UK Vitality Secretary Ed Miliband mentioned: “There isn’t any suggestion that there’s foul play.”

The place is Heathrow and the place did the fireplace happen?

Heathrow is situated on the outskirts of west London, within the borough of Hillingdon. The airport is the busiest in Europe and one of many busiest on this planet, primarily based on passenger visitors.

The hearth occurred in an space near Heathrow, on the North Hyde electrical substation in Hayes, a few 20-minute drive from the airport.

What number of flights have been delayed or cancelled?

Not less than 1,357 flights have been disrupted, in keeping with air visitors monitor, FlightRadar24.

Some 679 flights had been scheduled to land on the airport, whereas 678 flights had been anticipated to take off, the monitor mentioned.

Most flights that have been to land at Heathrow have been diverted to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Others have been re-routed to Frankfurt, Manchester and Dublin.

Flightradar24 mentioned 120 plane ready to be diverted have been nonetheless within the air on Friday morning after the disruptions.

Some passengers mentioned that they had been knowledgeable of cancellations and diversions hours earlier than their flight, whereas many others have been caught at Heathrow or connecting airports.

Lloyd, 34, who was planning to journey to the US through Heathrow to go to his companion, obtained an electronic mail as he was en path to Glasgow Airport on Friday morning informing him that his 6:35am flight had been rescheduled to a later time and to a special airport within the US. By the point he acquired to the airport, his flight had been cancelled and he was suggested to not journey from Glasgow to Heathrow.

“Maybe as a result of we hadn’t set off to London but, we weren’t as upset as these now caught in Heathrow,” Lloyd instructed Al Jazeera.

What number of flights and passengers go by means of Heathrow?

Based on Heathrow’s information, some 67 million passengers go by means of the airport yearly. That’s near the inhabitants of the entire of the UK.

Passenger visitors broke data in 2024 when the airport recorded greater than 83 million passengers – about 220,000 folks a day.

The airport handles about 1,300 flights day by day.

Has something like this occurred earlier than?

Related occasions have occurred, though on a a lot smaller scale. A few of them have been additionally within the UK.

• Final July, a major IT outage in a number of nations prompted 1000’s of flight cancellations and in addition affected industries starting from banks to media corporations. It occurred after cybersecurity agency CrowdStrike, which serves corporations like Microsoft, distributed a defective replace to its programs. Not less than 2,500 flights have been cancelled and thousands and thousands of programs shut down. Analysts mentioned it was the biggest IT outage in historical past.
• In August 2023, flights have been cancelled for greater than 700,000 passengers when planes have been grounded throughout UK airports due to a technical glitch within the Nationwide Air Visitors Companies (Nats) planning system.
• In the summertime of 2022, after nations absolutely opened following the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of 1000’s of individuals flocking to holidays world wide have been affected by an enormous airline workers scarcity, inflicting disruptions globally. A whole lot of flights have been cancelled and passengers had points discovering their baggage. Heathrow Airport was compelled to briefly subject a passenger cap and stopped airways from promoting flight tickets.
• In 2018, an Arctic snowstorm sweeping by means of the UK prompted vital flight disruptions, in addition to disruptions to rail and highway visitors. The storm lasted 11 days, with shut to five,000 flights disrupted.

What’s the newest from the bottom?

Firefighters are persevering with to battle the blaze, which, whereas underneath management, is ongoing.

In the meantime, main airways like British Airways have warned their passengers to not journey to Heathrow.

“We’re working as shortly as attainable to replace (travellers) on their journey choices for the following 24 hours and past,” the airline mentioned.

A press release from British Airways following the disruption at London Heathrow Airport on 21 March pic.twitter.com/WGUZiBbJ9n

— British Airways (@British_Airways) March 21, 2025