London Heathrow Airport had been shut down for 18 hours on Friday after a fire at a nearby electrical substation. However, airlines warned that disruptions would continue for days as they worked to get planes, crews, and passengers back on track.
Heathrow’s chief executive praised the airport’s response, but frustrated passengers, airlines, and politicians questioned how a single fire could bring Europe’s busiest airport to a halt.
“We have hundreds of additional colleagues on hand in our terminals and we have added flights to today’s schedule to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers traveling through the airport,” Heathrow said, advising travellers to check with their airlines before heading to the airport.
British Airways, the airport’s biggest airline, planned to operate about 85% of its 600 scheduled flights on Saturday. The airline said recovering from such a major incident was “extremely complex.”
The fire broke out at a substation 3.2 km from Heathrow, cutting power to the airport and over 60,000 properties. On Friday, more than 1,300 flights were cancelled, leaving around 200,000 people stranded.
West London residents reported hearing a loud explosion and seeing a fireball and thick smoke. Firefighters brought the blaze under control in seven hours, but Heathrow remained mostly closed for nearly 18 hours. A few flights resumed late on Friday.
Authorities do not consider the fire suspicious. The London Fire Brigade is investigating the substation’s electrical system.
The disruption sparked criticism of Britain’s infrastructure, with concerns that it is unprepared for emergencies. The government said a full investigation is needed to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye defended the airport’s response. “"Remember, the situation was not created at Heathrow Airport,” he told British media. “The airport didn’t shut for days. We shut for hours."
He explained that Heathrow’s backup power worked as planned but wasn’t enough to keep the entire airport running, as it uses as much energy as a small city. “Most airports operate this way,” he said, adding that similar disruptions would happen elsewhere in the same situation.
Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, handled 83.9 million passengers last year. The sudden closure left travellers on about 120 incoming flights landing in different cities and even different countries.
It was one of the worst disruptions since Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in 2010, spreading ash and shutting down European air travel for days.
