EVERY flight from Heathrow Airport has been cancelled after a major fire.
More than 200,000 passengers will be impacted in the coming days – with today alone 1,351 flights already axed.
3
3
3
For The Sun’s live blog on the Heathrow fire click here
Currently, 120 planes circulating airspace above what is the UK’s biggest airport are being diverted or turned around.
Many aircraft have been diverted to Gatwick this morning.
But an expert has warned surrounding airports, including also Stansted, will be unable to manage Heathrow’s diverted flights.
Neil Hansford, head of the Sydney-based Strategic Aviation Solutions consultancy, told The Guardian the fire has triggered a “logistical nightmare”.
“These airports can’t take anything close to the volume of Heathrow’s five terminals, where there’s an arrival every minute,” said Hansford.
For a live feed on flights being cancelled and diverted click here.
Massive disruption at Heathrow for days
By Lisa Minot
HEATHROW’S closure is likely to cause massive disruption in the coming days as more than 200,000 impacted passengers struggle to get to their destination.
The last time Heathrow was closed for such a significant period was more thna 15 years ago when a huge snowstorm closed all runways back in December 2010.
Then, more than 4,000 flights were cancelled over five days.
Today alone, 1,351 flights were due to take off and land at the UK’s largest airport.
More than 120 flights were already in the air and on their way to Heathrow when the fire broke out.
Planes have been diverted to airports across the UK and Europe.
Those who managed to land at a UK airport should count themselves lucky as they can at least continue their journey back to Heathrow via road or rail.
But it is going to cause significant disruption for hundreds of thousands of travellers today and in the coming days.
Right now, the airport and airlines are in crisis mode but in the coming weeks, no doubt questions will be asked as to how we can protect critical infrastructure and prevent this happening again.
The largest previous impact on Heathrow – and airports across Europe – was the closure of airspace following the volcanic ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland in April 2010 which saw disruption over five days.