Flights Reopen at Heathrow After Disruptive Power Substation Fire

Heathrow Airport in London reestablishes operations following a major disruption due to a fire at a nearby electrical substation, causing significant travel delays and cancellations.

Heathrow Airport in London, a key global travel hub, began its first full day of service on Saturday after a fire at an electrical substation caused operations to come to a standstill for the majority of Friday. This incident not only brought the airport to a grinding halt but also impacted travel plans for hundreds of thousands of passengers worldwide.

The Metropolitan Police are currently investigating the cause of the fire, which also disrupted power to tens of thousands of homes in the surrounding area. Preliminary information suggests there is no indication of foul play related to the incident.

British Airways, the airport's largest airline, reported that it anticipated approximately 85 percent of its nearly 600 scheduled flight departures and arrivals would move forward on Saturday. However, they cautioned that passengers might still experience delays as the airport and supporting services worked to recover.

The disruption, which lasted more than 16 hours and began in the early hours of Friday, caused a ripple effect of over a thousand flight diversions, affecting at least a quarter-million travelers, according to aviation data firm Cirium. Arrivals started to come back into service on Friday evening, but officials warned of ongoing delays as airlines sought to reposition their fleets to resume normal operations.

Heathrow’s management issued a cautionary message urging travelers not to come to the airport without confirmation from their respective airlines regarding their flights. "We aim to return to a full schedule shortly," an airport representative stated.

As of early Saturday, planes from various international locations, including Hong Kong, South Africa, and Brazil, were arriving at Heathrow. Thomas Woldbye, Heathrow's chief executive, explained that although a backup transformer was functioning correctly at the time of the fire, it could not power the entire airport.

The London Fire Brigade noted that extinguishing the fire presented significant challenges as the substation contained large quantities of cooling oil. Meanwhile, Britain's National Grid indicated that partial power restoration efforts were underway to support the airport and local customers.

As operations normalize, the airport is working towards providing more information to passengers who have been affected by this incident.