21-03-2025
Ryanair organises 'rescue flights' amid Heathrow Airport closure
Ryanair has organised eight 'rescue flights' between the UK and Ireland for passengers affected by the closure of Heathrow.
The flights are now available to be booked on the Irish airline's website.
It comes as Heathrow Airport is closed all day today (Friday, March 21) after a fire at a nearby electrical substation that supplies it with power.
At least 1,351 flights to and from the airport in west London could be cancelled today, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.
‼️RYANAIR LAUNCHES 8 RESCUE FLIGHTS FOR PASSENGERS AFFECTED BY HEATHROW CLOSURE‼️ Friday: 2 x Dublin to Stansted 2 x Stansted to Dublin Saturday: 2 x Dublin to Stansted 2 x Stansted to Dublin Available from 9.30AM at ✈️
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) March 21, 2025
Ryanair announced earlier this morning that extra flights would be available to book.
In a statement, the airline said: 'Ryanair will operate four extra flights between Dublin and Stansted on Friday afternoon as well as four extra flights on Saturday morning.
'These flights can be booked on from 9.30am this morning.'
The flight path between Heathrow and Dublin is one of the busiest international routes in Europe with 34 flights scheduled for today.
In total around 70 flights to and from the island of Ireland could be cancelled.
EasyJet, which does not operate at Heathrow, said it will use larger than planned aircraft on key routes on Friday and over the weekend to accommodate disrupted passengers.
Several flights between the UK and Milan, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Paris, Munich and Madrid will have A320 aircraft with capacity for 186 passengers, instead of A319 aircraft which can only carry 156 passengers.
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Heathrow has warned of "significant disruption" over the coming days, telling passengers not to travel "under any circumstances" until it reopens.
Heathrow handled just under 84 million passengers last year, nearly double the number of the next busiest airport in the UK.
Some 83,857,000 passengers were recorded at Heathrow's terminals in 2024, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority.
