London: Flights at London’s Heathrow Airport resumed late Friday after a fire disrupted power supply, forcing a full-day shutdown of Europe’s busiest airport. The closure left tens of thousands of passengers stranded and caused widespread travel chaos worldwide.
Heathrow officials stated that crews worked tirelessly to restore operations following a massive fire at a nearby substation on Thursday night. The blaze triggered a complete airport shutdown, with travelers advised to avoid Heathrow.
The airport had been set to handle 1,351 flights on Friday, carrying up to 291,000 passengers. However, numerous flights were diverted to other UK and European airports, while several long-haul flights were forced to return to their points of departure. Heathrow confirmed that Friday’s operations would be limited, prioritizing aircraft relocations and arrivals into London.
“Tomorrow morning, we expect to be back to 100% normal operations,” said Heathrow Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye. “We sincerely apologize to all those affected. This was an unprecedented disruption.”
Authorities ruled out suspicious activity in an initial assessment, though investigations are ongoing. London Fire Brigade confirmed that its inquiry would focus on the electrical distribution equipment that caused the fire.
Britain's Heathrow airport reopened after a huge fire engulfed a nearby substation on Thursday night https://t.co/mEr6d8wFDa pic.twitter.com/5IXZRVAEDh
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 22, 2025
Airline Industry Fallout
The shutdown not only disrupted travel but also drew criticism from airlines questioning the vulnerability of such a crucial infrastructure component. The aviation industry now faces financial losses estimated in the tens of millions of pounds, sparking discussions over liability.
“You would think they would have significant backup power,” a European airline executive told Reuters.
Woldbye acknowledged the limitations of Heathrow’s contingency measures. “This (power supply) is a weak point,” he admitted. “Certain large-scale incidents cannot be fully guarded against, and this was one of them.”
Regarding liability, Woldbye stated that established protocols would determine financial responsibilities, adding, “We don’t have liabilities in place for incidents like this.”
British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander emphasized that the incident was beyond Heathrow’s control. “Their resilience plans were activated swiftly, with close coordination among emergency responders and airline operators,” she said.
Widespread Flight Disruptions
Airlines affected included JetBlue, American Airlines, Air Canada, Air India, Delta Air Lines, Qantas, United Airlines, British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. Many flights were rerouted or forced to return to their origin airports, according to flight analytics firm Cirium.
Shares of several airlines, including major U.S. carriers, declined following the disruption.
Aviation experts likened the scale of disruption to the 2010 Icelandic volcanic ash cloud crisis, which grounded around 100,000 flights across Europe.
Although flights have resumed, normal operations will take time to restore. “We have flight crews and aircraft in unexpected locations,” said British Airways Chief Executive Sean Doyle. “Unfortunately, this will impact passengers in the coming days.”
To ease congestion, the UK’s Department for Transport temporarily lifted restrictions on overnight flights.
Stranded Passengers Face Rising Costs
Passengers stranded in London faced difficulties arranging alternative travel.
“It’s pretty stressful,” said Robyn Autry, a professor scheduled to fly home to New York. “I’m worried about the cost of fixing this.”
Hotels near Heathrow took advantage of the surge in demand, with prices soaring to £500 ($645) per night—nearly five times the usual rate.
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Calls for Greater Resilience
The incident has raised concerns about Heathrow’s vulnerability to infrastructure failures. Airline executives, engineers, and passengers have questioned how a single fire could cripple the UK’s primary gateway.
Heathrow has faced multiple outages in recent years, including an automated gate failure and an air traffic control system meltdown in 2023.
Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence officer, called the incident a major warning for the UK’s critical infrastructure. “This is a wake-up call,” he said. “Heathrow should not be brought to a standstill due to one substation failure.”
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Willie Walsh, head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and former British Airways CEO, criticized Heathrow for failing passengers again.
Despite the outage, Heathrow stated that its backup power systems, including diesel generators and uninterruptible power supplies, functioned as intended to ensure aircraft could land and passengers could evacuate safely. However, the airport, which consumes as much energy as a small city, admitted that its backup systems could not sustain full operations indefinitely.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson confirmed that a full investigation would be conducted to determine the cause of the incident and prevent future occurrences.
