Britain’s Heathrow Airport has closed for the full day Friday after an electrical substation fire knocked out its power, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers at one of Europe’s biggest travel hubs
The Latest: Hundreds of thousands of passengers face flight cancelations as Heathrow closesBy The Associated PressThe Associated PressLONDON
LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of passengers faced flight cancelations at Europe’s busiest travel hub after a fire knocked out power to London’s Heathrow Airport, forcing it to close for the day.
At least 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow were affected already, including several from U.S. cities that were canceled, flight tracking service FlightRadar 24 said.
Here’s the latest:
No evidence that substation fire was suspicious, UK officials say
LONDON — British officials working to determine the cause of an electrical substation fire that shut Heathrow Airport have not yet found evidence it’s suspicious.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband says “it’s too early to say” what caused the huge blaze, but there’s “no suggestion” of foul play.
London’s Metropolitan Police say the fire brigade is leading the investigation, suggesting it’s not thought to be criminal.
Flights from Tokyo diverted or turned around
TOKYO — The closure of Heathrow forced two Japanese flights that had already departed to return to Tokyo and a third to change its destination, airline officials said.
Japan Airlines said one of its two Heathrow-bound flights Friday returned to Tokyo’s Haneda international airport, and another one diverted to the Finnish capital, Helsinki. A third flight out of Tokyo, operated by All Nippon Airways, another major Japanese carrier, also returned to Haneda.
Airline officials advised passengers to check the latest flight information for Saturday.
Birdsong replaces aircraft noise for Heathrow neighbors
The noise from Europe’s busiest airport is a constant bugbear for those who live nearby, but has temporarily fallen silent.
“Basically living near Heathrow is noisy. There are planes every 90 seconds or so, plus the constant hum of traffic, but you get used to it, to the point of no longer noticing,” said James Henderson, who has lived next to Heathrow for over 20 years.
“Today is different. You can hear the birds singing.”
Qantas diverts Heathrow flights to Paris
Australian airline Qantas diverted its Singapore-London and Perth-London flights to Paris on Friday and then bused the travelers to London, a spokesperson said.
Customers will be contacted directly if their flight is impacted.
Aviation expert compares impact to 9/11 or Icelandic volcano
LONDON — Aviation consultant John Strickland says it will take several days for global airline travel to recover from a daylong closure of Heathrow Airport.
He said: “We’re talking about several days’ worth of disruption to get the planes recovered and start using them again to move planned and disrupted passengers.”
Strickland compared the disruption to “a contained version of 9/11 or, to an extent, the Icelandic volcanic eruption” that shut European airspace in 2010.
“I remembered seeing on those occasions – particularly more so on 9/11 – it happened so quick and then U.S. airspace was closed, they were turning back aircraft and holding planes. That’s the parallel I would make.
“Heathrow being such a busy airport and full, there’s no kind of wriggle room for getting out of these kind of things.”
Heathrow closure has widespread impact on air travel
The closure of Heathrow rippled through global aviation. The long-haul carrier Emirates in Dubai, which has London as one of its top destinations, cancelled six round-trip flights to Heathrow on Friday alone.
Etihad in neighboring Abu Dhabi cancelled two round-trip flights, while one flight diverted to Frankfurt, Germany. Qatar Airways said at least seven scheduled flights were “impacted,” with its staff working with passengers.
Blaze that shut down Heathrow is unprecedented, UK government minister says
A British government minister says a “catastrophic” fire knocked out a backup generator as well as the electrical substation that supplies power to Heathrow Airport.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC that the blaze is “unprecedented.”
He said it’s too early to know the cause but that lessons will have to be learned about “protection and the resilience that is in place for major institutions like Heathrow.”
Flights from Hong Kong rerouted to Amsterdam, airline says
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways rerouted two overnight flights to Amsterdam and canceled at least two daytime flights to Heathrow, according to the flight status page on its website.
Fire that closed Heathrow is now under control but not out
The London Fire Brigade says the electrical substation blaze closed Heathrow Airport is under control.
The fire caused a widespread power outage, affecting thousands of homes, local businesses, and disrupting thousands of flights.
LFB Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne says the fire was under control just after 8 a.m.
“This was a very visible and significant incident, and our firefighters worked tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible,” he said. “Thanks to their efforts and a coordinated multi-agency response, we successfully contained the fire and prevented further spread.”
Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports
Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports for international travel. It had its busiest January on record earlier this year, with more than 6.3 million passengers, up more than 5% for the same period last year. January also was the 11th month in a row it averaged over 200,000 passengers a day, with the airport citing transatlantic travel as a key contributor.
Heathrow normally opens for flights at 6 a.m. due to nighttime flying restrictions. It said the closure would last until 11:59 p.m. Friday.
The U.K. government earlier this year approved building a third runway at the airport to boost the economy and connectivity to the world.
Flights turn around as airport closes
Seven United Airlines flights returned to their origin or diverted to other airports and its flights Friday to Heathrow were canceled, the airline said.
The FlightAware website showed more cancelations including two from John F. Kennedy International in New York, a Delta Airlines flight and an American Airlines flight.
Other jets were diverted to Gatwick Airport outside London, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Ireland’s Shannon Airport, tracking services showed.
National Rail canceled all trains to and from the airport.
Fire cuts off power to Heathrow and thousands of homes
Flames soared into the sky when a transformer at an electrical substation caught fire in west London late Thursday night. The fire continued to smolder after daybreak.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said in a post on X the power outage affected more than 16,300 homes. About 150 people were evacuated.The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
