London’s Heathrow Airport Shuts For A Day After Nearby Fire Causes Power Outage—Global Travel Disruptions Expected

21 Mar 2025 by Siladitya Ray · Forbes

Topline

London’s Heathrow Airport—one of the biggest travel hubs in the world—halted operations early on Friday and will remain closed throughout the day after a fire at a nearby electrical substation caused a power outage, in a move that is likely to impact hundreds of thousands of passengers and disrupt global travel.

Firefighters douse the remainder of a fire that broke out at a substation supplying power to ... More Heathrow Airport in Hayes, west London.AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

The airport announced it was “experiencing a significant power outage,” due to a “fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport” and it will remain shut till 11:59 p.m. local time on Friday to maintain safety.

Heathrow warned that it expects “significant disruption over the coming days” and advised passengers to “not to travel to the airport” and instead contact their respective airlines for further information.

The London Fire Brigade announced that ten fire engines and 70 firefighters have been deployed to tackle the fire and said: “half of a transformer within the substation remains alight.”

How Many Flights Could Be Disrupted By The Heathrow Shut Down?

According to FlightRadar24, the closure will impact at least 1,351 flights that were set to arrive at or depart from London Heathrow Airport on Friday. According to FlightAware’s real-time tracker, 152 flights originating from Heathrow and 126 flights scheduled to arrive there have been canceled so far. This number, however, is likely to increase as the day progresses because of a restriction on night flights at the airport.

How Many Passengers Could Be Affected By The Heathrow Shutdown?

Heathrow Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world and it serves as a key hub for transatlantic flights and several other key international routes. The airport said it handled around 5.7 million passengers in February—its twelfth consecutive month where it averaged more than 200,000 passengers daily.

How Are Airlines Responding To The Heathrow Shutdown?

United Airlines told the BBC that seven United Airlines flights that were flying to Heathrow had to return to their airports of origin or divert to other airports after the closure was announced. The U.S. carrier said it has canceled all Friday flights to the airport. British Airways said the shutdown will “clearly have a significant impact on our operation” as Heathrow serves as the carrier’s main hub. The airline told BBC it was “redirecting inbound flights already on their way to Heathrow to other UK airports” where possible. Virgin Atlantic told Reuters that the closure has had a “significant impact” and “all Virgin Atlantic arriving and departing flights are canceled until midday on 21 March, with the rest of today’s schedule currently under review.”

Tangent

Aside from the Heathrow Airport, more than 16,000 homes and businesses in the London area were facing power outages at the time of publishing due to the transformer fire. Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, the utility provider that serves the area initially said it was aiming to restore power by 3 a.m. local time, however, in an update a few hours later the company said the affected substation had to be evacuated because of the fire.