On Friday, it looked as though Heathrow Airport might suffer the closing for the ages. This was prompted by an extended blackout caused by a blaze at a local power substation. The incident led to a 15-hour shutdown of one of the world’s busiest airports. It stranded thousands of passengers on over 1,000 canceled or diverted flights. The airport later said it would remain closed through midnight on Friday. Emergency crews, including the State Police, are actively working to put out the flames.
Neil Hansford, the chairman of Strategic Aviation Solutions in Sydney, went further. He told us that a closure this size is “unprecedented” in the aviation world. In 2024, Heathrow is the second-busiest international airport, behind only Dubai. Its complex footprint is home to an impressive 1,300 take-offs and landings each day – that’s more than 80 million flying passengers each year! The airport’s sudden closure shone a spotlight on the airport’s full capacity, creating an outsize contagion effect on the airport and its customers.
Substation fire brigade took almost 200 emergency calls related to the trip. This particular substation is the Northumberland Ave Substation, which is located near Heathrow Airport, London – about 25 km west of downtown London. The fire also ignited a widespread blackout that plunged Heathrow’s vast 12.3 kilometers² into darkness. It’s all the more alarming considering each of the airport’s two runways is close to four kilometers long — a significant impact.
“Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage across the airport due to a large fire at a nearby electrical substation. Whilst fire crews are responding to the incident, we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored,” stated Heathrow Airport.
The ongoing situation is having a knock-on effect on all other airlines operating from Heathrow. British Airways understandably fearful about implications for their operations, and hence their customers. They are doing so in real-time, in order to maintain travelers’ awareness of their options over the next 24 hours, and continuing accordingly.
“This will clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers, and we are working as quickly as possible to update them on their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond,” said British Airways.
SAS has now cut all its round trips to and from Heathrow. At the same time, Qantas has been redirecting its Singapore-London and Perth-London flights to Paris, offering buses to deliver passengers to London.
“All our 12 round trips are so far cancelled to and from London Heathrow as the airport is currently closed,” confirmed SAS.
“Our Singapore-London and Perth-London services were diverted to Paris today, with buses arranged to take customers on to London,” said a Qantas spokesperson.
London Gatwick was eager to take on the sudden influx of seven diverted flights from Heathrow. As these experts noted, there were major logistical challenges that other airports faced in attempting to absorb Heathrow’s traffic.
“These airports can’t take anything close to the volume of Heathrow’s five terminals, where there’s an arrival every minute,” explained Neil Hansford.
The closure's impact is expected to extend over the coming days, with passengers advised not to travel to Heathrow until normal operations resume. Heathrow Airport assured passengers of ongoing efforts to resolve the situation and provide updates on resumption timelines.
“We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens,” warned Heathrow Airport.
“We will provide an update when more information on the resumption of operations is available. We know this will be disappointing for passengers and we want to reassure that we are working as hard as possible to resolve the situation,” added Heathrow Airport.
Travel industry analysts have said that both airlines and travelers face difficult days in the wake of the abrupt closure.
“It’s going to be a chaotic couple of days,” remarked Henry Harteveldt, travel industry analyst.