Las Vegas flights to and from London’s Heathrow Airport canceled by fire

British Airways’ and Virgin Atlantic’s nonstop flights from Las Vegas to London’s Heathrow International Airport Friday are scheduled to leave on time after Thursday night’s flights were canceled when the London airport was closed by a fire at an off-airport electrical substation.

Flights from Heathrow due to arrive Friday also have been canceled.

Harry Reid International Airport officials are encouraging passengers to contact their airlines about potential flight cancellations Friday.

Airport officials on Friday had few additional details about future flight schedules, which British Airways officials said could be disrupted for days as a result of the unprecedented shutdown of Europe’s busiest airport.

As of Friday morning, Heathrow officials said they were preparing to reopen the airport and trying to get back to normal operations.

Some flights to London were ordered to turn around in midair after the fire broke out, but that did not appear to be the case for the Las Vegas departure. The incoming flight from London Thursday also was canceled.

Heathrow officials said more than 100,000 passengers on 670 flights were affected Friday, but local airport officials did not have details on how many were impacted in Las Vegas.

British Airways uses an Airbus A350, a twin-engine wide-bodied jet, on its Las Vegas-London route, capable of carrying up to around 400 passengers.

Two airlines offer 17 weekly flights to and from Heathrow International, with 10 a week on British Airways and seven a week on rival Virgin Atlantic.

On its website, Virgin Atlantic said, “If you are travelling to or from London Heathrow today, please do not proceed to your departure airport at this time.” The company said it is emailing passengers directly on the status of their flights, but that all operations at Heathrow have been canceled Friday.