Flights resume at Heathrow after power outage forced closure of Europe’s busiest airport

London, March 22: A day after flights were grounded at Europe’s busiest airport Heathrow, operations resumed on Saturday as the first flight landed. Full service is expected to resume at London's Heathrow Airport on Saturday a day after it was shut down due to an unprecedented loss of power caused by nearby a substation fire. The shutdown caused inconvenience to as many as 200,000 passengers as at least 1351 inbound and outbound flights were grounded throughout Friday.

Inbound planes were diverted to other airports in Europe after flames ripped through the North Hyde plant in Hayes, west London, on Thursday evening. Air India had on Friday temporarily suspended its flight operations from Heathrow as the airport announced a closure until March 21 midnight due to the power outage. “All our flights to and from London Heathrow, including AI111 of this morning, have been cancelled for 21 March. We will update about resumption of operations as soon as we have more information. Flights to London Gatwick remain unaffected,” the statement added.

According to BBC, the airport's chief executive Thomas Woldbye apologised to stranded passengers and said the disruption was "as big as it gets for our airport" and that it could not guard itself "100%". The Met Police confirmed the fire was not believed to be suspicious. A fire in a substation in the western part of London led to a "significant power outage" and left over 16,000 homes without electricity. According to British media over 150 people were also evacuated. The London Fire Brigade said it had deployed 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters and a 200-metre safety cordon is in effect. Local residents - the substation is in Hayes in London's Hillingdon borough, were told to stay inside and keep doors and windows closed because of the smoke.

As of 11.34 am (India time) the blaze remains active, NDTV reported quoting London fire officials. In an X post the airport had advised passengers not to travel and contact their respective airlines for further details. "Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage. To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 11.59 pm on March 21," the airport said.