Heathrow is set to restart some flights today, prioritizing passengers stranded there on connecting flights. An old transformer failure caused a fire, leading to the airport shutdown.
Over 1,300 flights to and from the UK’s primary airport faced disruptions following its closure due to a fire at a nearby electricity substation.
The incident left thousands of homes without power, resulting in the evacuation of over 100 individuals due to a fire in a transformer at the substation, marked by a significant explosion.
However, electricity now appears to have returned to the airport after an ‘interim solution’ was found by engineers at National Grid.
Reporters inside Terminal 4 this afternoon said lights in the main building have switched back on and lifts in the multi-storey car park are operational again.
And in a statement, the airport announced that it was now ‘safely able to begin some flights later today’.
‘Our first flights will be repatriation flights and relocating aircraft,’ a spokesman said. ‘Please do not travel to the airport unless your airline has advised you to do so.
‘We will now work with the airlines on repatriating the passengers who were diverted to other airports in Europe. We hope to run a full operation tomorrow and will provide further information shortly.
A British Airways parked outside Heathrow Terminal 5 after the airport was closed to all flights
Parked planes and an empty runway at London Heathrow Terminal 5 today
Firefighters wearing masks at the scene of the major blaze in West London this morning
The substation fire in Hayes involved 25,000 litres of cooling oil igniting, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) has said.
The eerie and empty runway at Heathrow Airport, where no flights are coming in or out today
An experienced electrical engineer today blamed the catastrophic failure of an ‘oil-filled transformer’ for the devastating fire that embarrassed Britain on the world stage.
Tom Watters, who has worked on critical infrastructure around the world, told MailOnline the crucial substation powering Heathrow and west London contains ‘very old’ equipment and blamed a ‘lack of investment’ for the crisis.
The substation fire in Hayes involved 25,000 litres of cooling oil igniting, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) has said.
MailOnline can also reveal that a report for London Mayor Sadiq Khan in 2022 identified major problems with the electricity supply system in the Heathrow area. It warned that the North Hyde substation, which exploded into flames last night, has been running at 106.2 per cent of capacity.
Electrical engineer Mr Watters, director of Sanguine Impact Investments, told MailOnline: ‘An oil filled transformer has obviously failed and caused the massive fire.
‘This looks like a very old transformer and it’s surprising that such an old piece of critical equipment was still in service. I assume a lack of investment is the reason.
‘The design of the substation while being ok is also very old style. Modern substations are normally enclosed using gas as the insulation’.
It came as The National Grid said that Heathrow has been reconnected to power on an ‘interim basis’. But travel journalist Simon Calder said tomorrow will be far from a ‘normal day’ at Heathrow and disruption will ‘stretch into next week’.
‘Ultimately it’s extremely damaging to the UK economically, reputationally and so much distress to people. All those people have been let down’, he said.
As Heathrow is shut down sparking worldwide travel carnage:
The deserted runway and BA’s grounded fleet at Heathrow today. 220,000 people were due to pass through the airport on Friday
Firefighters extinguish the fire at the North Hyde electrical substation, which caught fire Thursday night and lead to a closure of Heathrow Airport in London
Counter terrorism police are now leading the probe into the electrical substation fire amid claims it could be a Russian sabotage attack linked to Vladimir Putin’s campaign of disruption.
A report for London Mayor Sadiq Khan in July 2022 identified major problems with the electricity supply system in west London due to a lack of capacity.
In the North Hyde substation which caused this morning’s chaos in Heathrow, part of its network has been running at 106.2 per cent – far in excess of its capacity including a safety buffer.
According to the report, the vital piece of infrastructure has seven primary substations supplied from the main facility which caught fire today.
The substations are rated in Megavolt-amperes which measures the electrical load carried by the system.
In one substation, the maximum MVA – including a safety buffer is 76MVA. However, peak capacity on that section was measured as 80.7MVA – 106.2 per cent above the safety margin.
Other areas are at 94.7, 89.1 and 86.2 per cent of capacity.
According to the Greater London Authority Report, the lack of capacity is caused by a rapid increase in the number of data centres.
The report warns: ‘The scale of electricity demanded by these data centres has created capacity constraints on both the distribution and transmission networks in the region, absorbing remaining electricity capacity in SSEN’s West London region for the rest of the decade.’
This, the authors claim has impacted new housing developments as they can wait several years for permission to connect to the electricity network due to capacity limits.
In November 2024, it was reported that a network upgrade in the area would not be completed until 2037.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she has spoken with Heathrow boss Thomas Woldbye – but there is no update on when it will reopen.
She said: ‘This morning, I spoke with Heathrow airport’s chief executive to hear the latest on the unprecedented power outage and I am reassured they’re working tirelessly to reopen the airport as soon as possible.
‘I would like to thank everyone involved in responding to this situation – particularly the emergency workers who have worked to contain the fire and keep everyone safe.
‘I appreciate how disruptive this situation is for passengers, but until they hear otherwise the advice remains to avoid travelling to Heathrow.’
Smoke billows from the electrical substation that exploded last night, forcing the complete closure of Heathrow airport in a crisis being compared to 9/11 in terms of flights grounded
Heathrow said in a statement the airport’s back-up energy systems worked ‘as expected’ when the substation fire started.
It said: ‘We have multiple sources of energy into Heathrow.
‘But when a source is interrupted, we have back-up diesel generators and uninterruptable power supplies in place, and they all operated as expected.
‘Our back-up systems are safety systems which allow us to land aircraft and evacuate passengers safely, but they are not designed to allow us to run a full operation.
‘As the busiest airport in Europe, Heathrow uses as much energy as a small city, therefore it’s not possible to have back-up for all of the energy we need to run our operation safely.
‘We are implementing a process which will allow us to redirect power to the affected areas, but this is a safety critical process which takes time, and maintaining safety remains our priority, so we have taken the decision to close the airport for today.’
It came after a British MP today claimed that the drive for Net Zero led to the complete shutdown of Heathrow.
One industry source told Reform MP Richard Tice Heathrow is moving from diesel back-up generators to biomass and the system failed ‘at the first time of asking’ when a local electrical substation went up in flames.
At least 220,000 passengers have been left stranded in Britain and around the world after an electrical fire shut the airport for at least 24 hours – with the level of global travel chaos sparked by the outage being compared to 9/11.
The UK’s busiest airport was forced to close on Friday after its main power substation exploded and set alight less than two miles away in the west London suburb of Hayes.
The complete closure of Heathrow due to the loss of just one electrical substation is unprecedented and raises major questions for the airport and the Government. It has also left many stranded travellers raging and reduced to tears.
Mr Tice said on GB News: ‘It appears that Heathrow had changed its backup systems in order to be, wait for it…Net Zero compliant’.
‘They had got rid of their diesel generators and had moved towards a biomass generator that was designed not to completely replace the grid but work alongside it. Their net zero compliant backup system has completely failed in its core function at the first time of asking’.
MailOnline has asked Heathrow to comment on Mr Tice’s claims. Its 2022 Net Zero plan confirms it is ‘investigating renewable-based alternatives that can still meet the stringent performance criteria’ – but it is not clear how far along those plans are.
Senior sources at the airport have insisted that Heathrow does have back-up power systems but ‘activating contingencies for the whole airport requires some time’ and ‘isn’t immediate’, one insider said to The Times. Bosses are expected to be hauled before Parliament to explain.
Julian Bray, one of the UK’s leading aviation experts said: ‘We are all amazed that Heathrow does not have a viable standby independent of the grid emergency power supply but relies on the National Grid. It’s not as if Heathrow is short of money – it has a substantial war chest for building the third runway’.
A tearful stranded couple at Heathrow T5 this morning
A passenger at Heathrow T5 this morning after fire at an electrical substation knocked out power
Heathrow Airport has been closed on Friday due to a large blaze at a nearby substation
The fire has knocked out power to the airport and 16,300 homes in west London
Dramatic images show flames tearing through the structure as smoke billows into the night sky
Firefighters douse the remainder of a fire that broke out at a substation supplying power to Heathrow Airport in Hayes, west London
The fire appears to now be out but Heathrow will be closed all day
Around 220,000 people were due to travel through Heathrow today and the chaos from the complete closure will rumble on over the weekend and into next week because aircraft and passengers are now in the wrong place all over the world.
At least 1,357 flights have already been cancelled, diverted or delayed today. Some planes already on their way London managed to land at other UK airports – but many including Gatwick are now full.
Dozens of flights have been diverted to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Lyon and other European cities, stranding tens of thousands of people abroad. Some planes were even forced to turn back and set down in New York, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Delhi, where Air India has now cancelled all its flights to London.
British Airways, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, Air Canada and Delta have suffered the largest number of cancellations and diversions.
Aviation consultant John Strickland said: ‘It’s a contained version of 9/11 or, to an extent, the Icelandic volcanic eruption. I remembered seeing on those occasions – particularly more so on 9/11 – it happened so quick and then US airspace was closed, they were turning back aircraft and holding planes’.
More than 16,300 homes in west London are also suffering from blackouts on Friday. All trains to Heathrow have also been cancelled. Coach operator National Express announced it has suspended all services to Heathrow.
It is the biggest disruption for UK aviation since the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud grounded and diverted flights in April and May 2010, costing airlines and its customers an estimated £130million every day.
The airport, which sees a plane land or take off every 45 seconds, announced its closure at 2am on Friday and ordered passengers not to come to its terminals.
The fire broke out at around 11.30pm on Thursday, and despite firefighters working throughout the night to bring it under control, part of the transformer remains alight.
Police have launched a major incident as investigators look into the cause of the fire, which is out and is being damped down by specialist firefighters in breathing apparatus this morning.
A local resident said a ‘bright flash of white’ lit up the sky when the explosion happened.
Mathew Muirhead was working a night shift on Thursday when he noticed smoke rising from the electrical substation.
‘We were stood outside our branch in Hayes and my colleague noticed smoke coming over the trees,’ the 42-year-old told PA.
‘It was 23.30 when we saw it, we were heading to West Drayton, so we went to check it out, we heard the sirens as we were headed to Bulls Bridge roundabout.
‘We saw a bright flash of white and all the lights in town went out.
‘My wife rang me and told me our electric was out – I found out a few hours later that Heathrow was completely shut down.’
A Heathrow Airport spokesperson said: ‘Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage.
‘To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23h59 on 21 March. Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport.’
A British couple stuck in China have ‘no idea’ how they will get home after their flight was cancelled.
Sharon Towers and her husband told MailOnline they are stranded in the airport as strict immigration policy means they can’t check into a hotel.
She said: ‘My husband and I are stuck in China.
‘We should have taken off at 1pm local time here Instead we are stuck at the airport with no idea how and when we will get home!
‘We can’t check in to a hotel because of the strict immigration visa policy, to enter back in to the airport, we need a boarding pass so customs can confirm when we are leaving the country.
‘We don’t know that, so we cant get a boarding pass to enter back in to the airport’.
An airport worker dealing with the chaos speaks on the phone as a passenger sleeps on a terminal floor
Stranded passengers with suitcases wait on a nearby road to Heathrow
There will be days of delays to the UK
Passengers affected by the closure have shared their anguish on social media.
One person wrote: ‘There’s a major fire at Heathrow Airport so my flight has now been diverted to Washington and diverted.
‘No clue what happens next. I just want to go home and see my family.’
Another added: ‘Today my flight from Heathrow has been cancelled so what should I do now? My mum is not well and I have to go and see her ASAP.’
Flights set to land at Heathrow are already being diverted, with Flightradar24 saying it would affect at least 1,351 flight to and from Heathrow.
‘That doesn’t include any flights that might be canceled or delayed due to aircraft being out of position,’ the flight tracker site said in a statement.
That means as many as 145,000 travelers could be affected by the closure, according to aviation-data firm Cirium.
FlightRadar24 spokesman Ian Petchenik said that the unplanned closure of Heathrow Airport will disrupt flights all over the world.
‘Heathrow is one of the major hubs of the world,’ he told the Telegraph. ‘This is going to disrupt airlines’ operations around the world.’
