London's Heathrow Airport Closed For The Day, Causing Major Flight Disruption | rssama.com

ONDON (AP) — A ample occurrence adjacent London’s Heathrow Airport knocked retired powerfulness Friday to Europe’s busiest formation hub, forcing it to unopen and disrupting world travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers.

Heathrow said it didn’t cognize erstwhile powerfulness would beryllium restored — raising nan anticipation that nan shutdown would past longer than conscionable nan day, arsenic antecedently expected.

At slightest 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow were affected, formation search work FlightRadar 24 said, and nan effect was apt to past respective days arsenic passengers effort to reschedule their recreation and airlines activity to get planes and unit to nan correct places.

Authorities do not cognize what caused nan occurrence but truthful acold recovered person nary grounds it was suspicious.

Residents successful westbound London described proceeding a ample explosion, followed by a fireball and clouds of smoke, erstwhile nan blaze ripped done nan electrical substation adjacent nan airport.

Some 120 flights were successful nan aerial erstwhile nan closure was announced, pinch immoderate turned astir and others diverted to Gatwick Airport extracurricular London, Charles de Gaulle Airport adjacent Paris aliases Ireland’s Shannon Airport, search services showed.

Lawrence Hayes was three-quarters of nan measurement to London from New York erstwhile Virgin Atlantic announced they were being diverted to Glasgow.

“It was a red-eye formation and I’d already had a afloat day, truthful I don’t moreover cognize really agelong I’ve been up for,” Hayes told nan BBC arsenic he was getting disconnected nan level successful Scotland. “Luckily I managed to get clasp of my woman and she’s kindly booked maine a train summons to get backmost to Euston, but it’s going to beryllium an incredibly agelong day.”

Heathrow is 1 of the world’s busiest airports for world travel. It had its busiest January connected grounds earlier this year, pinch much than 6.3 cardinal passengers, up much than 5% from nan aforesaid play past year.

Still, nan disruption Friday fell short of nan 1 caused by nan 2010 eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed clouds of ash into nan ambiance and created trans-Atlantic aerial recreation chaos for months.

Unclear what caused nan occurrence but foul play not suspected

It was excessively early to find what sparked nan immense blaze astir 2 miles (3 kilometers) from nan airport, but there’s “no suggestion” of foul play, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said.

The Metropolitan Police unit said counterterrorism detectives were starring nan investigation because of their expertise to find nan origin quickly and because of nan location of nan electrical substation occurrence and its effect connected captious nationalist infrastructure.

Miliband said nan fire, which took 7 hours to control, besides knocked retired a backup powerfulness proviso to nan airport. Heathrow said successful a connection that it had nary prime but to adjacent nan airdrome for nan day.

“We expect important disruption complete nan coming days, and passengers should not recreation to nan airdrome nether immoderate circumstances until nan airdrome reopens,” nan airdrome said.

The fire’s wide effect connected recreation led to disapproval that Britain was sick prepared for disaster aliases immoderate type of onslaught if a azygous blaze could unopen down Europe’s busiest airport.

“The U.K.’s captious nationalist infrastructure is not sufficiently hardened for anyplace adjacent nan level it would request to beryllium astatine to springiness america assurance this won’t hap again,” said Alan Mendoza, nan executive head of nan Henry Jackson Society, a information deliberation tank. “If 1 occurrence tin unopen down Heathrow’s superior systems and past apparently nan backup systems, arsenic well, it tells you something’s severely incorrect pinch our strategy of guidance of specified disasters.”

Tom Wells, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, acknowledged that authorities had questions to reply and said a rigorous investigation was needed to make judge “this standard of disruption does not hap again.”

Heathrow — wherever nan U.K. authorities plans to build a 3rd runway — was astatine nan bosom of a shorter disruption successful 2023 erstwhile Britain’s air postulation power strategy was deed by a breakdown that slowed takeoffs and landings crossed nan U.K. connected 1 of nan busiest recreation days of nan year.

Disruption could past days

Though nan occurrence has been brought nether control, nan airdrome said successful a connection it does not person “clarity connected erstwhile powerfulness whitethorn beryllium reliably restored.”

It said it expects “significant disruption complete nan coming days and passengers should not recreation to nan airdrome nether immoderate circumstances until nan airdrome reopens.”

Heathrow earlier said nan airdrome was not expected to reopen until Saturday.

The London Fire Brigade sent 10 engines and astir 70 firefighters to power nan blaze and astir 150 group were evacuated from their homes adjacent nan powerfulness station.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said successful a station connected X nan powerfulness outage affected much than 16,300 homes.

Diverted, canceled and successful limbo

At Heathrow, a family of 5 walking to Dallas showed up successful nan hopes their formation location — still listed arsenic delayed — would return off.

But erstwhile Andrea Sri brought her brother, sister-in-law and their 3 children to nan airport, they were told by constabulary that location would beryllium nary flight.

“It was a discarded of time. Very confusing,” said Sri, who lives successful London. “We tried to get successful touch pinch British Airways, but they don’t unfastened their telephone statement until 8 a.m.”

A motion connected nan motorway shows Heathrow Closed arsenic Britain's Heathrow Airport has closed for nan afloat time Friday aft an electrical substation occurrence knocked retired its power, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers astatine 1 of Europe's biggest recreation hubs successful London, connected March 21, 2025.

AP Photo/Kin Cheung

Travelers who were diverted to different cities recovered themselves trying to book recreation onward to London. Qantas airlines sent flights from Singapore and Perth, Australia, to Paris, wherever it said it would autobus group to London, a process apt to besides see a train shuttle beneath nan English Channel.

Budget hose Ryanair, which doesn’t run retired of Heathrow, said it added 8 “rescue flights” betwixt Dublin and Stansted, different London airport, to carrier stranded passengers Friday and Saturday.

National Rail canceled each trains to and from nan airport.

Blaze lit up nan entity and darkened homes

Matthew Muirhead was moving Thursday nighttime adjacent Heathrow erstwhile he stepped extracurricular pinch a workfellow and noticed fume rising from an electrical substation and heard sirens crying out.

“We saw a agleam flash of white, and each nan lights successful municipality went out,” he said.

Firefighters hold astatine nan area astir nan North Hyde electrical substation, which caught occurrence Thursday nighttime and lead to a closure of Heathrow Airport successful London, connected March 21, 2025.

AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth

Flights usually statesman landing and taking disconnected astatine Heathrow astatine 6 a.m. owed to nighttime flying restrictions. But nan skies were silent Friday morning.

“Living adjacent Heathrow is noisy, location are planes each 90 seconds aliases so, positive nan changeless hum of traffic, but you get utilized to it, to nan constituent of nary longer noticing,” said James Henderson, who has lived adjacent to nan airdrome for much than 20 years. “Today is different, you tin perceive nan birds singing.”

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Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio successful Berlin, Yirmiyan Arthur successful Kohima, India, Hallie Golden successful Seattle, and Christie Hampton, Brian Hannon and David Cohen successful Bangkok, contributed.

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