A British Airways flight lands at Heathrow (file pic)
(Picture: PA)A power cut at Europe’s busiest airport caused disruption to passengers early on Thursday morning, pausing some outbound and inbound flights.
Twitters users told how their flights to and from Heathrow were temporarily grounded.
”Just about to take off and the captain just announced a power outage affecting apparently the fuelling system at London Heathrow which is making all flights to be stopped until further notice,” one user wrote around 6.30am. “Sitting on a plane and waiting news…”
At around 7am, Olle Zachrison tweeted that his flight from Stockholm to Heathrow was being held on the runway amid the issues in London.
Jamie Hope added around 7am: “We were just about to take off from Bucharest to Heathrow and have now been told Heathrow is closed?”
@HeathrowAirport #terminal2 why is security closed pic.twitter.com/72NHOeYssz
— uPoPContemporary Ltd (@new_dynamite) January 5, 2023
There were also multiple reports of “baggage chaos” at the airport on Thursday morning.
One Twitter user, named Tracy, said she spent 90 minutes waiting to collect her luggage at Terminal 4, describing the baggage hall as “carnage”.
“Baggage chaos in Heathrow due to power outage overnight,” wrote another passenger.
Heathrow disputed the suggestions the power cut was behind the delays, saying baggage systems were up and running by the time they were needed on Thursday.
90 mins waiting for bags at Heathrow T4 this morning. Power outage overnight was the reason given but really there was no staff. Baggage hall was carnage. Beware.
— Tracy Howl Photo (@PixelVixenUK) January 5, 2023
The airport said the power cut began early in the morning and had been resolved before Heathrow’s operational start-up, by around 6am.
Some outbound and inbound flights are understood to have been held, but the issues are not said to be affecting Thursday’s flight schedule.
A Heathrow spokesperson said around 9.40am: “Earlier this morning there was a power supply issue which affected part of the airport. This has now been resolved but there was a minimal impact to our early morning operation.
“We are sorry for the inconvenience caused and advise passengers to check their flight status with their airline.”
