1 of 3 | Passengers wait at Heathrow Airport in London on Friday aft er power outage dueto a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport. Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA-EFE
March 21 (UPI) — London’s Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest in the world, reopened Friday night, 19 hours after flights were halted because of a “significant power outage,” the airport said.
The airport was submerged in darkness due to a fire at an electrical substation that supplies the British transport hub. The substation fire, which is a mile and half from the airport, was reported to the authorities at 11:23 p.m. local time Thursday.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told BBC Radio 4’s Today the substation’s backup generator “appears to have been knocked out.” And the airport’s generator is not enough to run the entire airport and all operations ceased, a source told the BBC.
“Our teams have worked tirelessly since the incident to ensure a speedy recovery,” the airport posted on X. “We’re now safely able to restart flights, prioritising repatriation and relocation of aircraft.”
The airport urged people not to go to the airport unless their airline advised them to do so.
Originally, the airport said it didn’t expect service to resume Friday.
It expects to run a full operation on Saturday.
“Our priority remains the safety of our passengers and those working at the airport,” the airport posted. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident.”
Flight disruptions
Air traffic monitor Flightradar24 reported that 121 aircraft were diverted to 50 alternate airports in 21 countries.
On Friday at Heathrow, 500 outgoing flights, which represents 73% of service and 366 incoming, at 52%, were canceled, according to FlightAware. On Thursday, 72 outgoing flights and 118 incoming ones were canceled at Heathrow.
Worldwide, there were 1,113 cancellations and 16,138 delays.
British Airways, the airport’s largest carrier, said a limited number of flights would depart starting at 7 p.m. local time, including more than a half-dozen long-haul flights to Africa, South America and the Middle East.
“This will clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers and we’re working as quickly as possible to update them on their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond,” a British Airways spokesperson said.
Heathrow typically has 200,000 passengers a day, including a sizeable portion of those from the United States. Heathrow services flights four major U.S. carriers: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and JetBlue.
The Points Guy website said individual airlines may have differing policies on passengers changing or canceling flights to and from Heathrow. Those stranded overnight may be able to recoup reasonable costs for extra meals, hotel nights and ground transportation.
Because it is something outside the airline’s control, EU261 compensation by the Euroean Unionwon’t be eligible.
Restoring service
The National Grid said earlier that an “interim solution” allowed power to be restored to customers including Heathrow Airport. The network was “reconfigured to restore all customers impacted”.
On Friday night, London Fire Brigade said fire “is believed to be non-suspicious” and the investigation will “focus on the electrical distribution equipment”.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said there was no suggestion of foul play as counter-terrorism police investigate.
“The counter-terrorism command has specific capabilities and capacities that mean that they are used to conducting investigations at pace,” she said.
“You will appreciate the investigation, keeps an open mind, and our priority is identifying the cause as soon as possible,” she said.
Emergency services were first called to Nestles Avenues in Hayes, west London shortly before Friday. The substation involved a transformer with 6,600 gallons of cooling oil.
According to the London Fire Brigade, 10 fire engines and some 70 firefighters were dispatched in Hayes.
“Good progress” fighting the blaze has been achieved, but the fire remained uncontained Friday morning, it said in a statement.
The power outage not only affected the airport but also a number of nearby homes and businesses, only some of which had regained power.
A more-than-600-foot cordon was established near the substation, resulting in around 150 people being evacuated, the fire brigade said. Twenty-nine people were escorted from neighboring properties by firefighters.
Area residents were being advised to keep windows and doors closed “due to the significant amount of smoke,” Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne said.
“This will be a prolonged incident, with crews remaining on scene throughout the night,” Goulbourne said in a late Thursday statement. “As we head into the morning, disruption is expected to increase, and we urge people to avoid the area wherever possible.
The British rail company, National Rail, stopped all trains to Heathrow,
In August 2023, a problem with Britain’s air traffic control system caused delays at several British airporst on what was one of the busiest travel days that year.