MANCHESTER, England (CN) - London's Heathrow Airport shut down Friday after a fire at an electrical substation caused a major power cut, disrupting more than 1,300 flights and the plans of 200,000 passengers.
Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, said the airport will remain closed until midnight, advising passengers to stay away from the airport and contact airlines for further information.
Many Heathrow-bound flights have already been diverted to London Gatwick, with other airports across the United Kingdom and Europe taking an influx of rerouted passengers, including Schiphol in Amsterdam and Charles de Gaulle in Paris. Flight disruptions are expected to last for days.
Shortly before midnight Thursday, the London Fire Brigade responded to calls about a fire in an electrical substation in Hayes, West London. The substation supplies power to Heathrow, which is one of the world's busiest airports, handling 84 million passengers last year.
The airport's four terminals were plunged into darkness along with 67,000 homes in the area. As the airport shut down, around 120 aircrafts were already in the sky heading for Heathrow, which had to find somewhere else to land.
As daylight broke over the capital, smoke continued to rise from the substation, but firefighters had the fire under control. The London Fire Brigade said in a statement that they "will remain on scene throughout the day," adding that, "Our fire investigators will begin their investigation."
The cause of the fire remains unknown. Ed Miliband, the U.K.'s energy secretary, called this an "unprecedented event," yet ruled out foul play. "At the moment, the focus is on restoring the power," Miliband said on a national radio station. "We don't yet have any understanding or real understanding of what caused ... the fire," adding that, "There's no suggestion that there is foul play."
The energy secretary later said the power outage "makes Heathrow look quite vulnerable," saying that it was important to learn from the issue. "What it makes me believe is we've got to understand why this happened, and we've got to work out what the lessons are for the resilience of our infrastructure."
Heathrow Airport has been at the center of expansion debates for decades, with plans for a third runway first proposed in the early 2000s. Successive governments and environmental groups have clashed over the impact of increased air traffic, stalling progress. In January 2025, Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the government's plan to greenlight a third runway before 2029.
The power outage may raise new concerns over the airport's infrastructure and its ability to support an additional runway.
No other airports in England were affected, including London Gatwick, the country's second busiest airport.
"Flights from London Gatwick are operating as normal today," it said in a statement on social media.
Birmingham Airport also said there will be no delays due to diverted flights from Heathrow Airport. "Flights inbound to London Heathrow will use multiple airports around the U.K. and Ireland, or alternatively may return to their departure airport," said a spokesperson for Birmingham Airport.
Affected airlines have told their passengers not to travel to the airport. British Airways released a statement that said, "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."
Scandinavian Airlines, SS, also confirmed cancellations. "All our 12 round trips are so far cancelled to and from London Heathrow as the airport is currently closed," it said.
The last time Heathrow Airport closed was in 2010, when an Icelandic volcano eruption pushed an ash plume miles up into the air, grounding thousands of flights around Europe.
Source: Courthouse News Service
