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London’s Heathrow Airport closed due to power outage

Heathrow handles more than 1,400 flights and 200,000 passengers a day.

Heathrow handles more than 1,400 flights and 200,000 passengers a day.

London’s Heathrow airport will be shut Friday after a fire caused a significant power outage, throwing one of the world’s busiest airports and the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of people into chaos.

“Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage,” the airport operator said in a statement posted to its website just before 3 a.m. London time Friday.

Passengers have been advised not to travel to the airport and contact their airline for further information.

Heathrow, the home of airlines including IAG SA’s British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, handles more than 1,400 flights and 200,000 passengers a day. Some planes already en-route were diverting, including a Qantas Airways Ltd. flight from Perth that is now heading to Paris, according to tracking service FlightRadar24.

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