Chicago – March 21, 2025
Heathrow Airport, the busiest in Europe, announced it would reopen for limited flights late Friday after a major power outage forced numerous flights to be diverted and caused widespread travel delays.
The airport shared an update on social media saying it was able to restart flights, focusing on repatriating passengers and relocating aircraft. However, they advised travelers not to go to the airport unless their airline instructed them to do so.
The power outage happened after a large fire broke out Thursday night at a high-voltage substation near the airport. The fire involved a transformer that contained about 6,600 gallons of cooling oil and caused major disruptions. The fire knocked out power to over 16,000 homes and caused the airport to lose power just hours before it was supposed to open at 6 a.m. local time.
This led to more than 1,000 flights being either canceled or diverted, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers. Many were rerouted through other countries, and some flights returned to their original airports.
The London Fire Brigade received more than 200 emergency calls from worried residents about the fire, which created a lot of smoke. The fire was in a nearby town called Hayes, and firefighters worked hard to control the blaze. Over 100 people were evacuated from their homes.
Heathrow’s airport officials warned passengers to stay away from the airport, as it was still dealing with the aftermath of the fire. Videos from social media showed the large fire at the substation, and flight data showed that more than 100 flights heading to Heathrow were diverted. Some planes were redirected to other airports, like one United Airlines flight from New York to Shannon, Ireland, and two Qantas flights to Paris.
So far, London police have not found any evidence of foul play, but their counterterrorism team is investigating the cause of the fire.
