Heathrow Airport in London, UK, will be closed until midnight owing to a huge fire at a nearby electricity substation.
According to Sky News, a spokeswoman acknowledged there was a “significant power outage across the airport” and “we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored”.
“To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23h59 on 21 March 2025.
“We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens,” the statement added.
Flightradar24 estimates that at least 1,351 arrivals and departures at Heathrow today will be affected.
That number is on top of approximately 120 flights that were already in the air on Friday morning. They may be diverted to alternate airports or instructed to return to where they originated from.
Already, some flights have been diverted to Gatwick, Paris, and Shannon, Ireland.
Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports, with a record 83.9 million passengers last year, and a take-off or landing every 45 seconds or so.
