Heathrow airport shuts down after power outage

London’s Heathrow Airport, one of the world’s busiest aviation hubs, has been forced to shut down entirely for the day due to a major power outage caused by a nearby electrical substation fire, resulting in massive disruption to global air travel.

In a statement shared on X, formerly Twitter, airport officials confirmed the complete closure of Heathrow until 11:59 p.m. local time on March 21. They warned of “significant disruptions over the coming days” and urged passengers to avoid traveling to the airport until further notice.

“Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage,” the airport said. “We do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored.”

The fire, which broke out late Thursday night at a transformer station in Hayes, west London, prompted the London Fire Brigade to deploy 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters. Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne confirmed that approximately 150 people were evacuated from the surrounding area, and a 200-meter safety cordon was established.

“As we head into the morning, disruption is expected to increase, and we urge people to avoid the area wherever possible,” said Goulbourne.

Social media videos showed large plumes of smoke and intense flames lighting up the night sky, while images from Heathrow on Friday morning depicted a largely dark airport with terminals and runways eerily quiet.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), the utility company responsible for the area, acknowledged a “widespread power cut” impacting over 16,000 homes in the London suburbs near the airport.

The shutdown has created chaos for travelers and airlines alike. According to aviation data from FlightRadar24, more than 1,350 flights scheduled to arrive or depart on Friday have been affected. At the time of the shutdown, 120 flights were already airborne, many of which had to be diverted or turned back.

Heathrow, which handled a record-breaking 83.9 million passengers in 2023, typically operates at 99% capacity with roughly 1,300 flights per day. Aviation analyst Geoffrey Thomas told CNN the outage’s timing couldn’t be worse.

“We’ve got literally hundreds of flights coming in from the United States, Southeast Asia, the Middle East — they’re all in the air at the moment,” he said.

While some shorter domestic flights could return to their points of origin, long-haul international flights posed a bigger challenge. With nearby London airports like Gatwick and Stansted already near full capacity, some aircraft were rerouted as far as Glasgow or Edinburgh — airports not fully equipped to handle the overflow.

The sudden failure has raised questions about Heathrow’s contingency planning and emergency preparedness, particularly its lack of a backup power source.

“This will be disappointing for passengers, and we want to reassure them that we are working as hard as possible to resolve the situation,” said the airport in a statement.

As emergency crews continue efforts to contain the fire and restore power, tens of thousands of passengers face cancellations, delays, and rebookings — with little clarity on when normal operations will resume.