Up to 300,000 passengers when Heathrow Airport is facing cancellation due to fire closure
Heathrow Airport in the UK said a fire broke out on the extinction of electricity at a nearby substation, destroying flight schedules around the world, which will be closed on Friday.
The London Fire Brigade said about 70 firefighters were in the fire in western London, which was the busiest in Europe and the world’s busiest airport, Heathrow, caused a massive power outage.
The fire reportedly forced the planes to move to airports in the UK and Europe after 11pm on Thursday, while many long-haul flights were just back to their departure points.
Huge orange flames and black smoke can be seen shooting into the sky from the power station at the airport about three kilometers. The London Fire Brigade said it took firefighters about seven hours to control the fire. By the early morning, the roads around the UK’s largest airport were largely deserted.
“I know the situation at Heathrow Airport is causing trouble and destruction, especially for those who travel or don’t have authority at home,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. “I am receiving updates regularly and I’m in close contact with partners on the ground. Thanks to our emergency workers for keeping people safe.”
The cause of the fire is unclear
Energy Minister Ed Miliband said the “disastrous” fires prevented the work of the backup system and engineers are working to deploy a third backup mechanism.
“With any such incident, we will want to understand why this happens and any courses it provides for our infrastructure,” he told Sky News.
London firefighters are working with police to investigate the reasons.
The London Fire Brigade sent 10 engines and about 70 firefighters to control the fire, and about 150 people evacuated from their homes near the power station.
“This is a very obvious and significant event, and our firefighters are working tirelessly to make the fire as quickly as possible under challenging conditions.”
Travel consultant Paul Charles said the impact costs total about 20 million pounds ($37 million).
“If the core system is affected, backups should be failsafe. Heathrow is so crucial that it should have a failsafe system,” Charles told Reuters.
Heathrow said the airport will conduct 1,351 flights during the day, flying up to 291,000 passengers, and it will be closed until midnight as it is experiencing a massive power outage.
Due to night flight restrictions, Heathrow Airport usually opens flights every day at 6 a.m. local time.
Heathrow Airport Arrival in Pearson, Toronto Cancel
It is not clear how much impact Canada’s departure and arrival will be.
The Greater Toronto Airport Authority told CBC News at Pearson Airport. The GTAA said passengers are advised to use airlines to check their flight status and Pearson’s social media account will be updated regularly.
Tracking services show that Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris or Ireland announced the closure of Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Air France canceled eight flights to and from Heathrow Airport, while KLM said it canceled three return flights.
British Airways itself plans to land 341 flights at Heathrow Airport on Friday.
Heavy backlog of expectations
Industry experts say tourism, travel and trade will be further disrupted worldwide, as flights will be cancelled or delayed due to the absence of the plane.
“Heathrow is one of the world’s major hubs,” said Ian Petchenik, spokesman for flight tracking site Flightradar24. “This will disrupt airline operations around the world.”
The carefully orchestrated network of airlines depends on the aircraft that is at a specific location at a certain time. Dozens of airlines will have to rush to reconfigure their networks to move aircraft and crew.
“The other question is, ‘How will airlines deal with the backlog of passengers?’,” said tourism analyst Henry Harteveldt in the atmospheric research team. “It will be a few days of chaos.”
Some passengers turned to social media. Adrian Spender, who works for Tesco, UK, said in an article on X that he was on the Airbus A380, which had travelled to Heathrow Airport.
” #heathrow doesn’t know where we are going. Currently in Austria.”
Heathrow and other major airports in London have been hitting power in recent years, most recently in 2023 with automated door failures and air traffic system crashes.
Heathrow had its busiest January earlier this year, with 6.3 million passengers, up more than 5% from the same period last year. January is also the 11th consecutive month, with an average of 200,000 passengers per day, and the airport is a key contributor to transatlantic travel.
