Mass flight disruption from Heathrow fire
Mass flight disruption from Heathrow fire Photo: AAP
Britain’s Heathrow Airport hopes to run a full operation Saturday local time, after a fire at an electrical substation wiped out power, disrupting flights around the world, including those of Qantas.
The world’s fifth-busiest airport has begun the process of reopening, after thousands of passengers were left stranded by the closure which caused travel turmoil worldwide.
“Our teams have worked tirelessly since the incident to ensure a speedy recovery. We’re now safely able to restart flights, prioritising repatriation and relocation of aircraft,” the airport said in a statement on X on Friday afternoon local time.
Huge orange flames and plumes of black smoke could be seen shooting into the sky during the night before firefighters said they had the blaze under control.
By early Friday morning the roads around Britain’s biggest airport were largely deserted, except for some passengers walking away with their luggage.
The closure not only caused misery for travellers but provoked anger from airlines who questioned how such crucial infrastructure could fail.
The industry is now facing the prospect of a financial hit costing tens of millions of pounds, and a likely fight over who should pay. “You would think they would have significant back-up power,” one top executive from a European airline told Reuters.
The investigation
Police said that while there was no indication of foul play, they retained an open mind and counter-terrorism officers would lead the inquiries, given their capabilities and the critical nature of the infrastructure.
Airline experts said the last time European airports experienced disruption on such a large scale was the 2010 Icelandic ash cloud that grounded some 100,000 flights.
Counter-terrorism detectives are leading the investigation because if at any stage foul play is suspected they will want to have been involved from the start, the BBC reported.
The agency said an urgent question if foul play remains ruled out would be how many other key parts of the national infrastructure do not have a backup electricity supply.
Heathrow was due to handle 1351 flights during the day, flying up to 291,000 passengers.
The fire, which was reported just after 11pm on Thursday, forced planes to divert to airports across Britain and Europe, while many long-haul flights simply returned to their point of departure.
Heathrow fire
firefighters work to secure the area of the fire. Photo: AAP
Industry experts warned that some passengers forced to land in Europe might have to stay in transit lounges if they lack the visa paperwork to leave the airport.
Global flight schedules will also be affected more broadly, as many aircraft will now be out of position.
“Heathrow is one of the major hubs of the world,” said Ian Petchenik, spokesman for flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
“This is going to disrupt airlines’ operations around the world.”
British Airways, the biggest carrier at Heathrow, had 341 flights scheduled to land there on Friday.
The chaos hit shares in airlines including British Airways parent IAG.
Heathrow fire
Passengers board a bus as trains to Heathrow Airport are terminated. Photo: AAP
Qantas Airways sent its flight from Perth to Paris, a United Airlines New York flight headed to Shannon, Ireland, and a United Airlines flight from San Francisco was due to land in Washington, DC rather than London.
Some flights from the United States were turning around midair and returning to their point of departure.
“The other question is, ‘What will airlines do to deal with the backlog of passengers?'”, said travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt with Atmosphere Research Group.
“It’s going to be a chaotic couple of days.”
Heathrow, and London’s other major airports, have been hit by outages in recent years, most recently by an automated gate failure and an air traffic system meltdown, both in 2023.
—with AAP