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LONDON – 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 and forced it to be closed 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.
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.
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