Heathrow was closed in London after the power outage: What flights were broken? | Aviation news

The loss of power at London Heathrow airport, one of the most busy match in the world, forced to close On Friday morning, chaos and disruption of travel to tens of thousands of air passengers.

In a post on the social media site X, the airport blamed a fire at an electrical sub -station in North Hyde, in Hayes, west of London, for the power outage and said that he does not expect to reopen it until early on Saturday.

Aviation analyst Alex Machirras Al -Jazeera told the effect of the beating on historical disturbances would be huge. “It may take days,” he said.

The flights were transferred to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Manchester.

Here is what we know about what happened and the disruption caused by the closure.

Because of a fire at an electrical sub -station that supplies the airport, the Heathrow suffers from a significant power outage.

To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed to 23h59 on March 21.

Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport … pic.twitter.com/7swnjp8ojd

Heathrow Airport (@Hethrowairport) March 21, 2025

What happened at Heathrow Airport?

A large fire was blamed at a sub -power station that serves Heathrow and the surrounding areas to reduce energy to the airport and cause the operation to stop.

The fire also caused a large -scale energy interruption of thousands of residential and commercial buildings in parts of West London. The officials initially advised the residents of the area to close the windows and doors due to the huge smoke columns.

In a statement published in X early on Friday, Heathro Airport advised passengers and employees to stay away from the building and said it was not expected to open again before midnight.

“The passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and they must contact their airlines for more information. We apologize for the inconvenience,” the statement said.

Al -Jazeera travelers told that they had offered them some airlines. One, known as Elien, said that she was booked on the British Airways flight before Friday chaos.

“We were supposed to fly to the Venice this morning from Heathrow for a one -day trip to attend my thirtieth birthday, a surprise that was booked by my cousin for the two of us,” Elien told Al -Jazeera Island. “We have offered us full money by the airline, so he will not travel now this week, but we will try to rearrange another weekend soon,” she said.

What caused the fire?

Fire officials said the cause of the fire was still unclear – the investigations are continuing. They warned that this would be a “long accident” as firefighters fought the fire early on Friday. It was controlled at about 06:30 GMT, according to UK officials.

Speaking to Radio LBC on Friday, UK Energy Minister Ed Miliband said: “There is no suggestion that there is a mistake in that.”

Where is Heathrow and where is the fire?

Heathrow is located on the outskirts of West London, in the Helingdon area. The airport is the most crowded in Europe and one of the most crowded airport in the world, based on passenger traffic.

The fire occurred in an area near Heathrow, in the North Hyde Electric branch in Hayes, about 20 minutes by car from the airport.

How many flights are delayed or canceled?

At least 1,357 flights have been disabled, according to Moster Monitor, Flightradar24.

The screen said that about 679 flights were to land at the airport, while 678 flights were expected to start.

Most of the flights that were landing in Heathrow were transferred to the Shaibhoul Airport in Amsterdam. Others were re -directed to Frankfurt, Manchester and Dublin.

Flightradar24 said that 120 aircraft are waiting for their conversion to the air on Friday morning after the turmoil.

Some passengers said they were informed of cancellation and transfers hours before their journey, while many others were stuck in Heathrow airports or connecting airports.

Lloyd, 34, who was planning to travel to the United States via Heathrow to visit his partner, received an email because he was on his way to Glasgow Airport on Friday morning to inform him that his flight was rescheduled 6:35 am to a different airport in the United States. By the time when I arrived at the airport, his journey was canceled and advised not to travel from Glasgow to Heathrow.

“Perhaps because we have not yet set out to London, we were not upset like those who now stick to Heathrow,” Lloyd told Al -Jazeera.

How many flights and passengers via Heathrow?

According to Heathrow data, about 67 million passengers pass through the airport every year. This is close to the entire UK resident.

Passenger movement broke the record in 2024 when the airport scored more than 83 million passengers – about 220,000 people per day.

The airport takes over 1,300 flights per day.

Did anything like that happened before?

Similar events occurred, despite a much smaller range. Some of them were also in the United Kingdom.

• Last July, a Hoop In multiple countries, they have been canceled, and they have affected the industries ranging from banks to media companies. This happened after Crowdstrike, which serves companies like Microsoft, distributed a defective update to its systems. At least 2,500 trips have been canceled and millions of systems were closed. Analysts said it was the largest interruption in its history.
• In August 2023, flights were canceled for more than 700,000 passengers when aircraft were established through UK airports due to a technical defect in the national air traffic services system (NATS).
• In the summer of 2022, after the opening of the entire countries after the Covid-19s, tens of thousands of people flowing to vacations all over the world were affected by a huge flight deficiency, causing disturbances worldwide. Hundreds of flights were canceled and passengers were problems with finding their luggage. Heathrow Airport had to temporarily release a passenger hat and stop airlines from selling airline tickets.
• In 2018, a snowstorm in the North Pole in the UK caused major flying disturbances, as well as railways and roads. The storm lasted 11 days, with approximately 5,000 flights.

What is the latest of the earth?

Firefighters continue to fight the fire, which, during control, is continuing.

Meanwhile, major airlines such as British Airways warned their passengers against traveling to Heathrow.

The airline said: “We are working as soon as possible to update (travelers) on their travel options for 24 hours and beyond.”

A statement from British Airways after the turmoil of London Heathrow on March 21 pic.twitter.com/wguzibbj9n

British_Airways March 21, 2025