London’s largest airport will be closed throughout Friday after a fire has reduced the supply of electricity, which disturbs flights of hundreds of thousands of passengers in one of the largest travel centers in Europe.
The Flighttrada 24 Flight Location services have shown that several flights were diverted to other airports such as Gatwick, Charles de Gaulle in Paris and the Irish airport of Shannon. At least 1,350 flights from and for Heathrow had already been affected in the early hours of the day, including several flights from US cities that were canceled.
“To maintain the security of our passengers and colleagues, we have no alternative to end Heathrow” throughout the day, the airport said. “We expect significant disturbances in the next few days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstance until its reopening.”
Heathrow is one of the most busy airports in the world, which serves as an international travel connection center. Earlier this year, Heathrow had the busiest month of which there is a record, with more than 6.3 million passengers, an increase of more than 5% during the same period last year. January was also the 11th consecutive month in which it registered an average of more than 200,000 passengers per day, and the airport administration refers to transatlantic trips as one of the main taxpayers for traffic.
The Administration reported that seven United Airlines flights returned to their origin or were diverted to other airports and that every Friday’s flights to Heathrow were canceled.
The Flightware web site showed more cancellations, including two flights from the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, a flight from Delta Airlines and an American Airlines flight.
Heathrow Airport has declared in its statement that it will provide an update of its operations when you have more information about when energy will be restored.
National railway trains canceled from and from the airport
The London Fire Brigade reported that 10 firefighters and about 70 firefighters were on the scene after an electric substation transformer burned in western London on Thursday.
Thousands of houses also had electricity and about 150 people were evacuated.
The images published on social networks show large flames and large amounts of smoke from the Aerport facilities.
“The fire has caused an energy cut that affected a large number of houses and local companies, and we are working closely with our partners to minimize disturbances,” said Vice President Pat Gouldbourne.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said on the X network that the energy cut affected more than 16,300 houses.
Heathrow airport usually opens for flights at 6 AM due to night flight restrictions. The closure will run until 11:59 pm on Friday.
Earlier this year, the United Kingdom government approved the construction of a third track at the airport to boost the economy and connectivity with the world.
