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

Al Jazeera

21-03-2025

A loss of power forced London Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest, to shut down on Friday morning, prompting chaos and disrupting travel for tens of thousands of air passengers.
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.
Aviation analyst Alex Macheras told Al Jazeera the knock-on effect of the historic disruptions would be huge. 'It could possibly take days' to get back to normal, he said.
Flights were diverted to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Manchester.
Here's what we know about what happened and the disruption the closure has caused.A large fire in an electrical substation serving Heathrow and surrounding areas has been blamed for cutting power to the airport and causing the shutdown.
The blaze also caused extensive power outages for thousands of residential and commercial buildings in parts of west London. Officials initially advised residents in the area to shut windows and doors due to the huge plumes of smoke.
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.
'Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience,' the statement read.
Travellers told Al Jazeera they had been offered relief by some airlines. One, identified as Ellen, said she was booked on a British Airways flight before Friday's chaos.
'We 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,' Ellen told Al Jazeera. 'We have been offered a full refund by the airline so won't be travelling now this weekend but will try to rearrange for another weekend soon,' she said.
Fire officials said the cause of the fire is still unclear – investigations are ongoing. They warned this would be a 'prolonged incident' as firefighters battled the blaze early on Friday. It was brought under control at about 06:30 GMT, according to United Kingdom officials.
Speaking to LBC Radio on Friday, UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: 'There is no suggestion that there is foul play.'
Heathrow 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.
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.
At least 1,357 flights have been disrupted, according to air traffic monitor, FlightRadar24.
Some 679 flights had been scheduled to land at the airport, while 678 flights had been expected to take off, the monitor said.
Most flights that were to land at Heathrow were diverted to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Others were re-routed to Frankfurt, Manchester and Dublin.
Flightradar24 said 120 aircraft waiting to be diverted were still in the air on Friday morning after the disruptions.
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.
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.
'Perhaps because we hadn't set off to London yet, we weren't as upset as those now stuck in Heathrow,' Lloyd told Al Jazeera.
According to Heathrow's data, some 67 million passengers pass through the airport every year. That is close to the population of the whole of the UK.
Passenger traffic broke records in 2024 when the airport recorded more than 83 million passengers – about 220,000 people a day.
The airport handles about 1,300 flights daily.
Similar events have happened, although on a much smaller scale. Some of them were also in the UK.
Firefighters are continuing to battle the blaze, which, while under control, is ongoing.
Meanwhile, major airlines like British Airways have warned their passengers not to travel to Heathrow.
'We're working as quickly as possible to update (travellers) on their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond,' the airline said.