Heathrow says it’s fully operational after blackout shutdown

Heathrow Airport in London said it is open and works completely after an unprecedented blackout throughout the day that brought travel to hundreds of thousands of passengers at the most crowded airports in Europe.

British Airways, the largest individual operator at the airport, said it expects to run about 85 % of its schedule on Saturday. Energy supplies have been restored to all customers connected to North Hyde, including Heathrow, allowing operations to appeal at the airport, according to the facilities company in a post on X.

“We have hundreds of additional colleagues at hand at our stations, and we have added flights to today’s schedule to facilitate 10,000 additional passengers traveling through the airport,” said Hitro spokesman in an email on Saturday.

Heathro advised passengers on Saturday to check their airlines to obtain the latest information related to their flights.

She followed the reopening of a day of the mass chaos of travelers, as hundreds of flights were transferred or canceled. The British Capital Police said earlier that the anti -terrorist leadership is leading an investigation into a fire in a nearby power plant that led to the power outage, although there was no signal at this stage of wrong play.

“We are deeply regretted for the resulting turmoil and continue to work closely with the government and Hatro and the police to understand the cause of the accident,” said patriotism in the United Kingdom. “We are now implementing measures to help improve flexibility levels in our network.”

The closure was forced into more than 1,300 trips to be canceled or re -directed on Friday alone. Heathrow, the home of British Airways, is a major Atlantic travel center, in addition to East East East and Asia Etisalat. While nearby airports like London Gatwick accepted some of the trips that have been converted, others are sent to Frankfurt.

“This incident will have a major impact on airlines and customers for several days, with the suspension of expected flights in the coming days,” said Sean Doyle, president of British Airways. The airline said in a statement late on Friday that its full schedule on Saturday includes approximately 600 exits and expatriates, and hopes to operate the largest possible number of these flights.

Ronan Murphy, director of Alton Aftit Constants, said:

The interruption of this scale is unprecedented to the airport. About 677 flights in British Airways will be affected alone, according to ChianaViviation, which collects industry data. This is followed by 62 trips to the Atlantic Eroyez Ltd. and 42 trips to Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

Iag SA, the father of British Airways, decreased by 4.3 % in London, thus decreasing this year to 5.5 %. The shares doubled in almost in 2024 as the company improved services and paid debts.

The interruption raises questions about the durability of the Heathrow infrastructure, and why the airport and importance of this range lacks the repetition systems necessary to maintain operations. At the same time, Heathrow has large energy requirements, which complicates a reserve source to meet her needs.

Energy Minister Ed Miliband Radio LBC told Friday that the “catastrophic” fire had removed the generator of Heathrow, as well as the power station that serves it. Prime Minister Kiir Starmer said he was “receiving regular updates” and was in close contact with the partners on the ground.

“While there is currently no indication of wrong play, we keep an open mind at this time.” The assessments were ongoing to determine whether the conditions were suspicious, according to an official with the awareness of the issue. The person said that the police would be a peripheral unless there is a reason for the installation of the investigation.

Heathrow is currently manufacturing the stadium to add a third runway, and long -term ambition to expand traffic and stay competing with international centers such as Dubai or Istanbul. Its recently reorganized ownership of the French SAS SAS, the Qatar Investment Authority and the General Investment Fund in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as large investors.

Close the airport at about 1:30 am on Friday. The fire broke out at an electrical sub -station in Hayes, north of Heathrow, immediately before midnight, causing the domestic power cut off the service to thousands of nearby population and local companies, and caused some evacuation operations.

By mid -afternoon on Friday, the National Network said it has prepared the ability to re -introduce parts of Heathrow connected to the damaged sub -station.

Soo Thomas, who traveled to Heathrow on Thursday evening from Canada to visit the family in Benzung, Cornwall, Power said in the Premier Inn hotel room near the airport at 10:30 pm

“Everything is good,” she said in an interview at the Paddington station on Friday, where she waited for a train. “The force came out, the water was not working, and no one was allowed to enter or go out.”

She said that the hotel staff were unable to allocate rooms because everything is automated, the elevators were not working, and the hotel corridors were in complete darkness.

Previous closure

Heathrow, which is also home to Virgin Atlantic, deals with about 1400 trips and 200,000 passengers every day, and about 40 trips The plane takes off every hour at peak times on average.

Ryanair Holdings PLC, the Irish budget holder, said it would add four flights on Friday and four on Saturday between its axis in London Stanttement and Dublin to accommodate the passers -by. Easyjet PLC said it also put larger planes on the main roads to provide more seats.

The last main crisis of Heathrow occurred in August 2023 when it closed the UK airspace due to a technical problem in the air traffic control system. The power outages were fixed after a few hours, but it led to a lot of delay in flying and canceling in Heathrow and other airports, creating a chaos for passengers.

Hundreds of flights in Heathrow were canceled on July 10, 2006, after the London authorities revealed a plot to detonate liquid explosives on Atlantic flights. However, the airport remained open and flying in that evening.

On Friday, about 120 aircraft were already traveling when the airport closed or was sent to its root, including the flights that are run by Qantas Airways Ltd. And Delta Air Lines Inc. And American Airlines, according to Flightradar24 tracking service.

Transport companies, including the UAE, the largest international airline in the world, said with more than ten daily flights in Heathrow, that they have canceled some contacts. “We are closely watching the situation and we will guide our customers with the development of the situation,” the UAE said.

Virgin said that all the traffic received and issued until 9:30 pm was canceled, and that the rest of the schedule is under review. Some airlines began to redirect the traffic received to other airports, including Abu Dhabi Carrier Airways, which turned a dumping plane into Frankfurt.

Gatwick Airport said that his service was operating normally, and that seven flights have been transferred so far that he was transferred from Heathrow.

Even once the service is resumed, there will be a major ripple effect that may be perceived for several days, as the aircraft and crew leave. Airports sometimes have disturbances due to weather strikes or employees, although the full closure of a full day is very rare.

In early 2023, Frankfurt Airport – among the most crowded in Europe – suffered from serious turmoil after damage to the wide range of railways in the northern part of the German city. UK airports have seen a break in recent years due to air traffic control systems, although these were often just hours.

This time, passengers face major disorders. Nick Stone, an investor from Los Angeles, climbed a Eurostar train to Paris at St. Pancras Station in London on Friday morning. He said that his canceled journey would cause him to miss the birthday of his twelfth daughter.

Eurostar said it added an additional capacity, including one additional service from London to Paris and one from Paris to London to provide alternative travel options for the passengers who were separated.

Sabrina and Rake Baker, a German couple, were scheduled to return to Hanover on a 1.5 -hour trip from Heathrow on Friday. Instead, they now take Eurostar to Brussels and then to Cologne before reaching their destination, a trip that will take more than 12 hours and cost 1000 euros ($ 1083).

They said they did not know whether they would recover their money.

This story was originally shown on Fortune.com

2025-03-22 14:46:00