LONDON – Britain’s Heathrow said flights would resume later on Friday after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut Europe’s busiest airport for the day, stranding thousands of passengers and causing travel turmoil worldwide.
Heathrow said its teams had worked tirelessly to reopen the world’s fifth-busiest airport after it was forced to close entirely after a huge fire engulfed a substation near the airport on Thursday night, with travellers told to stay away.
The airport had been due to handle 1 351 flights on Friday, flying up to 291 000 passengers, but planes were diverted to other airports in Britain and across Europe, while many long-haul flights returned to their point of departure.
“We’re now safely able to restart flights, prioritising repatriation and relocation of aircraft,” Heathrow said in a statement on X.
“We hope to run a full operation tomorrow and will provide further information shortly. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident.”
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. (Reuters)
