Heathrow airport closed: greater than 1,000 flights affected after substation hearth causes energy outage – reside | Heathrow airport
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Greater than 1,000 flights shall be affected
Some extra particulars from Flightradar24, which says that greater than 1,000 flights shall be impacted by the sudden closure of Heathrow immediately.
“At this time’s complete closure of London-Heathrow will have an effect on not less than 1,351 flights to/from LHR,” the flight tracker mentioned in a put up on Bluesky, “That doesn’t embody any flights that may be canceled or delayed attributable to plane being out of place.”
Key occasions
The Hayes hearth has pressured planes to divert or be cancelled around the globe.
British Airways itself had 341 flights scheduled to land at Heathrow on Friday.
“It will clearly have a big impression on our operation and our clients, and we’re working as shortly as potential to replace them on their journey choices for the subsequent 24 hours and past,” it mentioned.
In the meantime, all Virgin Atlantic flights arriving and departing flights from Heathrow are cancelled till noon on 21 March, the airline mentioned.
What we all know thus far
What began off as a fireplace at a electrical substation in Hayes, West London, has prompted Heathrow, one of many world’s busiest airports, to shut till midnight on Friday. The substation provides energy to the main aviation hub.
In case you are simply tuning in, or waking up within the UK, here’s what that you must know:
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Within the early hours of Friday morning Heathrow airport introduced that the airport can be closed till midnight on Friday attributable to a “vital energy outage” attributable to a substation hearth.
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The shutdown occurred simply hours earlier than the worldwide journey hub was attributable to open, forcing not less than 120 flights that had been already within the air to divert, in accordance with Flightradar24.
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A spokesperson for the airport has instructed passengers to not journey to the airport “beneath any circumstances” and warned that “vital disruption” is anticipated within the coming days.
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Journey specialists say the Heathrow closure may have a worldwide impression, with dozens of air carriers pressured to hurriedly reconfigure their networks to maneuver planes and crews round consequently.
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Already, scores of flights are being diverted to different airports, with Qantas Airways sending its flight from Perth to Paris and a United Airways New York flight heading to Shannon, Eire. Some flights from the US had been turning round mid-air and returning to their level of departure. A United Airways flight from San Francisco was attributable to land in Washington, D.C. quite than London. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic diverted flights to close by Gatwick.
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In keeping with Flightradar24, greater than 1,000 flights shall be impacted by the sudden closure of Heathrow.
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On the bottom, the Hayes hearth can also be inflicting vital disruption with energy outages impacting greater than 16,300 houses. Footage posted to social media confirmed enormous flames and huge plumes of smoke coming from the substation facility. The hearth brigade mentioned practically 200 calls had been acquired in relation to the incident with crews from Hayes, Heathrow, Hillingdon, Southall and surrounding areas on the scene.
The closure of Heathrow is being felt around the globe. In Singapore’s Changi airport a departure board reveals an Air Portugal flight to Heathrow has been cancelled.
Heathrow closure ‘catastrophic for air site visitors’ says aviation professional
Elias Visontay
Elias Visontay, our transport and concrete affairs reporter, has spoken to an aviation professional who says that airways around the globe will now be grappling with a “logistical nightmare”.
Neil Hansford, head of the Sydney-based Strategic Aviation Options consultancy, mentioned the closure of Heathrow for a day was “unprecedented” for the business.
Whereas London’s different airports, equivalent to Gatwick and Stansted, would historically take diverted flights, Heathrow’s scale means different airports in and close to London don’t have the capability to soak up all of its operations.
“These airports can’t take something near the quantity of Heathrow’s 5 terminals, the place there’s an arrival each minute,” mentioned Hansford.
Hansford mentioned that even when airports equivalent to Amsterdam’s Schiphol and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly may deal with diverted arrivals, it was unclear what they might do from there to return to their flight schedules.
“If you happen to land in Paris or Amsterdam, and even Manchester, how are you going to get your passengers and crew to London, and the way are your outbound passengers and alternative crew going to get to the opposite metropolis? Trains can’t do all of that shifting. Each airline shall be going through this downside immediately. Airways base their workers in sure cities they fly to, however they might not have any workers within the cities they should divert to.”
“Past positioning the crew, gasoline shall be an enormous downside,” he added. “Airways plan to refuel at Heathrow which has an enormous provide, however different airports that settle for diversions probably received’t be capable of refuel all of those additional planes.”
Hansford mentioned that even when Heathrow resumed operations by Saturday, the cascading flight disruptions would ripple by means of world aviation schedules for days, if not longer.
“It’s catastrophic for air site visitors,” he mentioned.
Gatwick airport accepting diverted flights
Elias Visontay
Most of the Heathrow-bound flights have diverted to London’s Gatwick, as airports round the UK and Europe brace for an inflow of sudden passengers.
An announcement from a London Gatwick spokesperson mentioned: “We’re conscious of the state of affairs at Heathrow Airport immediately and we’re supporting by accepting diverted flights as required. Flights are working from London Gatwick as regular immediately.”
London Gatwick has thus far accepted seven diverted flights initially scheduled to land at Heathrow, together with flights from Singapore, Johannesburg, Lagos, Cape City and Doha.
In the meantime, different flights have diverted to Paris, amongst different cities.
Agence France-Presse has put collectively some details about Heathrow.
The airport handles greater than than 80 million passengers a yr and the operator says there are round 1,300 takeoffs or landings a day.
In January, the federal government gave permission for Heathrow to construct a 3rd runway – which could possibly be prepared by 2035 – after years of authorized wrangling introduced on by complaints from native residents.
5 main airports serve the capital and cities close by.
However capability is stretched, particularly at Heathrow whose two runways every measure virtually 4 kilometres in size, whereas the airport covers a complete space 12.3 sq. kilometres.
The airport opened in 1946 as London Airport earlier than being renamed Heath Row, a hamlet demolished two years earlier to make manner for the development.
Located 25km (15 miles) west of central London, the current Heathrow serves 200 locations in additional than 80 nations, with passengers gaining access to 4 terminals.
Amongst its predominant flight locations final yr had been Dublin, Los Angeles, Madrid and New York.
Journey specialists say the disruption will lengthen far past Heathrow
Airways’ fastidiously choreographed networks rely upon airplanes and crews being in particular places at particular occasions. Dozens of air carriers should hurriedly reconfigure their networks to maneuver planes and crews round after the Heathrow closure.
“The opposite query is, ‘What is going to airways do to cope with the backlog of passengers?’”, mentioned journey business analyst Henry Harteveldt with Environment Analysis Group. “It’s going to be a chaotic couple of days.”
For our worldwide readers getting their bearings, here’s a useful map that reveals how shut the hearth in Hayes is to Heathrow airport.
On the bottom the Hayes hearth can also be inflicting vital disruption to residents in London.
Footage posted to social media confirmed enormous flames and huge plumes of smoke coming from the substation facility.
The hearth brigade mentioned practically 200 calls had been acquired in relation to the incident with crews from Hayes, Heathrow, Hillingdon, Southall and surrounding areas on the scene.
Scottish and Southern Electrical energy Networks mentioned in a put up on X there was a large-scale energy outage within the space impacting greater than 16,300 houses.
Emergency providers had been known as to the scene at 11.23pm on Thursday.
The reason for the hearth is but to be decided.
United Airways has mentioned that seven flights have returned to their origin or to different airports on Friday, with flights to Heathrow being canceled, in accordance with Reuters.
Greater than 1,000 flights shall be affected
Some extra particulars from Flightradar24, which says that greater than 1,000 flights shall be impacted by the sudden closure of Heathrow immediately.
“At this time’s complete closure of London-Heathrow will have an effect on not less than 1,351 flights to/from LHR,” the flight tracker mentioned in a put up on Bluesky, “That doesn’t embody any flights that may be canceled or delayed attributable to plane being out of place.”
At the least 120 flights diverted
It’s going to be a chaotic day for some travellers with flight monitoring web site Flightradar24 saying that not less than 120 flights within the air sure for Heathrow should divert because of the airport closure.
Scores of flights are already being diverted to different airports, with Qantas Airways sending its flight from Perth to Paris and a United Airways New York flight heading to Shannon, Eire. Some flights from the US had been turning round mid-air and returning to their level of departure.
A United Airways flight from San Francisco was attributable to land in Washington, D.C. quite than London. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic diverted flights to close by Gatwick.
Heathrow is likely one of the busiest two-runway airports on the earth with about 1,300 mixed take-offs and landings a day, in accordance with its web site.
“Heathrow is likely one of the main hubs of the world,” mentioned Ian Petchenik, spokesman for FlightRadar24. “That is going to disrupt airways’ operations around the globe.”
Commenting on the blaze, a spokesperson for Heathrow airport mentioned to count on vital disruption over the approaching days.
“Heathrow is experiencing a big energy outage throughout the airport attributable to a big hearth at a close-by electrical substation. While hearth crews are responding to the incident, we don’t have readability on when energy could also be reliably restored.
“We count on vital disruption over the approaching days and passengers shouldn’t journey to the airport beneath any circumstances till the airport reopens.
“We’ll present an replace when extra info on the resumption of operations is offered. We all know this shall be disappointing for passengers and we need to reassure that we’re working as arduous as potential to resolve the state of affairs.”
The London Fireplace Brigade has mentioned that its crews stay on the scene of the hearth in Hayes.
“Please proceed to maintain home windows & doorways closed attributable to smoke & keep away from the world. This shall be a chronic incident, with crews remaining on scene all through the evening,” it mentioned in a put up on social media.
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The hearth on the west London substation has pressured Heathrow, one of many world’s busiest airports to close down till midnight on Friday. The closure is prone to trigger widespread disruption to journey plans.
In keeping with knowledge from the OAG, Heathrow was the second-busiest worldwide airport in 2024, after Dubai (DXB).
OAG’s knowledge confirmed that Heathrow (LHR) took second place after Dubai with 48.4 million seats, whereas airline capability elevated by 4% in comparison with 2023.
Opening abstract
Hiya and welcome to our reside protection of the closure of Heathrow airport following a fireplace at an electrical energy substation in Hayes. The hearth led to an influence outage that has left the airport with out electrical energy.
Airport operators mentioned the journey hub can be closed till midnight on March 21. Vital disruption to journey is anticipated and passengers ought to keep away from the airport.
Fireplace crews are responding to the accident however there isn’t any readability on when energy could also be reliably restored, a Heathrow spokesperson instructed Reuters in an e mail, and added that they count on vital disruption over the approaching days.
Eurocontrol, which manages air site visitors management operations throughout Europe, mentioned on its operations web site that no arrivals had been being allowed at Heathrow because of the energy outage and there have been diversion plans in place for flights.
Heathrow was the world’s second-busiest worldwide airport in 2024 behind Dubai, in accordance with journey knowledge agency OAG.
The London Fireplace Brigade mentioned its crews was tackling the hearth in Hayes in west London and had evacuated round 150 individuals as a precaution.
Right here is the complete report:
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