Heathrow Airport Shut Down for 24 Hours Due to Power Outage

London’s Heathrow Airport has been completely shut down for 24 hours after a fire at a substation caused a massive power outage on Friday morning.

According to Heathrow Airport officials, the fire broke out at a power substation in Hayes, west of London, leading to a large-scale electricity failure affecting airport operations. To ensure passenger and staff safety, authorities decided to temporarily close the airport.

The London Fire Brigade reported that the fire disrupted power supply to over 16,000 homes and businesses in the area.

Assistant Commissioner Pete Coulbourne stated, “This is a major incident, and our firefighters are working in challenging conditions to bring the situation under control as quickly as possible.”

Due to the shutdown of Heathrow Airport, multiple flights have been rerouted to other destinations:

• A Qantas flight from Perth, Australia, was diverted to Paris.
• A United Airlines flight from New York was instructed to land in Shannon, Ireland.

Important Advisory for Passengers

Heathrow Airport has advised travelers not to visit the airport and instead contact their respective airlines for further updates.

Handling over 80 million passengers annually, Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world, with more than 1,300 daily flights. The temporary closure is expected to cause significant travel disruptions, impacting thousands of passengers worldwide.