SINGAPORE - Most flights that operate between Singapore and London’s Heathrow Airport have resumed on March 22, following a significant power outage that shut downthe British capital’s main airport, leaving thousands of passengers and planes stranded.
According to data from flight analytics firm Cirium, three out of four Heathrow-bound flights operated by Singapore Airlines (SIA) scheduled to depart from Changi Airport on March 22 will proceed as planned.
While flight SQ306 that was scheduled to depart at 1.10am was cancelled, SQ308 that was set to leave at 9am departed from Changi as planned. Flights SQ318 and SQ322 are scheduled to leave at 12.45pm and 11.45pm respectively.
Meanwhile, two Singapore-bound SIA flights from Heathrow on March 22 have been cancelled, while two others are set to depart as per the schedule, according to Cirium’s data.
Flights at Heathrow Airport resumed late on March 21 (March 22 morning, Singapore time), after a fire at a nearby substation knocked out power in the world’s fifth-busiest airport. The incident has reportedly prompted aviation experts and airlines to raise questions about how such critical infrastructure could fail.
– one to Frankfurt, Germany, and the other to Paris, France – while four scheduled for departure on March 21 and 22 were cancelled. Four Singapore-bound flights from Heathrow on March 21 were also cancelled.
British Airways (BA) and Australian carrier Qantas also operates flights between Singapore and Heathrow Airport.
According to Cirium’s data, BA16 and BA12 departed from Singapore on the night of March 21 as planned.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, a BA spokeswoman said that the airline expects around 85 per cent of flights flying into and departing from Heathrow on March 22 to operate as scheduled.
However, she added it is likely that travellers will experience delays as the airline continues to navigate challenges caused by the power outage.
“We are planning to operate as many flights as possible to and from Heathrow on Saturday, but to recover an operation of our size after such a significant incident is extremely complex,” said the spokeswoman.
Flights to Heathrow operated by Qantas resumed on March 21, a spokesman for the airline told ST.
The Singapore-bound Qantas flight QF2 that was initially scheduled to depart Heathrow at 8.10pm on March 21, has been rescheduled to 12pm on March 22.
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