Heathrow airport closes on Friday after the fire causes a power cut

London Heathrow Airport closed on Friday after a fire in a nearby electrical substation caused a blackout, interrupting trips through tens of thousands of passengers who plan to fly inside or outside the most busy airport in Europe.

The first flight from the closure left on Friday night, and Heathrow published in X that he hopes to perform a “complete operation” on Saturday.

More than 800 flights were canceled inside and outside the airport on Friday, according to the FlightAware flight monitoring site, from the most recent update, the trips on the reverse in the main center and the connection airport.

The airlines warned travelers that interruptions could continue until the weekend, and Heathrow published that travelers should not go to the airport unless their airline advises it.

The London Metropolitan Police said that although there were no signs of dirty play, “the anti -terrorism division would now lead the fire on the fire.

“Given the location of the substation and the impact that this incident has had on the critical national infrastructure, the command against the terrorism of the MET now leads the investigations,” the force said in a publication on X.

“This is due to specialized resources and capabilities within that command that can help progress this investigation to the rhythm to minimize the interruption and identify the cause,” he said.

“Heathrow is experiencing a significant power cut throughout the airport … although firefighters are responding to the incident, we have no clarity about when energy can be restored,” said a Heathrow spokesman on early Friday.

According to Flightradar24, more than 120 flights were already in the air when the closure was announced and was diverted or returned to its origin airports. Almost three quarters of the flights scheduled to start from Heathrow, or 500 flights, and half of the arrivals destined to the airport, 300 flights, were also eliminated.

The airlines around the world due to operating flights inside and outside Heathrow told passengers to stay at home.

The fire and airport closure left thousands of stranded travelers. British airways It was the most affected airline, with more than half of its canceled Friday.

The airline said it would offer “flexible options” to reserve the passengers who will travel to or from Heathrow on Friday until the weekend, in an online publication.

“Our teams are currently working hard to review our long distance schedule, as well as the implications for our morning and beyond,” he said in a statement.

As the fire seems to be out of the control of the airlines, it is possible that the compensation is not necessary to cover, according to a note issued by CITI on Friday.

American AirlinesA partner of British Airways throughout the Atlantic, said that almost 20 flights since Thursday were diverted or canceled and provided night hotels for affected customers. He canceled another about 20 inside or outside London on Friday, he said. The carrier planned to operate his full schedule to and from London on Saturday.

European travel and leisure actions fell into the airport closure news.

Ed Miliband, United Kingdom Minister of Energy, described the fire as “catastrophic,” according to Reuters, added that the airport support generator had been affected by the fire.

Speaking to the “good morning Britain” of ITV, Miliband said that the national network told him that “it is like a fire that never, more or less, have seen something like the scale of what happened before,” according to a post of the program in X.

Miliband added that the national network was trying to use another backup system to restore energy from the airport.

The power cuts also affected some 16,000 homes around the airport. From 8 AM GMT, the electricity supply was restored to all except around 4,900, according to the United Kingdom Energy Company Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks.

Heathrow Airport has an estimate of 1,300 take -offs and lands at the airport per day, according to its website. He handled a record of 83.9 million passengers last year, an increase of almost 6% of 2023.

Speaking to “Good morning Britain,” Miliband said Friday: “We have to understand why this happened, and we have to solve what the lessons are for the resistance of our infrastructure.”

He said that the national network is analyzing whether there is a “sufficient resistance” at the airport, since the fire also affected a backup generator.

“It makes Heathrow look quite vulnerable. And, therefore, we have to learn lessons … about not only Heathrow, but about how we protect our main infrastructure,” said Miliband.

Willie Walsh, CEO of the International Association of Air Transport, or IATA, a group of the airline industry, criticized Heathrow airport for being “totally dependent on a single source of energy without an alternative”, in an online statement, describing it as a “total planning failure” by the airport.

Walsh questioned who would cover the costs of the resulting travel interruptions.

“We must find a fairer assignment of passenger attention costs that the airlines alone collecting the tab when infrastructure fails,” he said. “Until that happens, Heathrow has very few incentives to improve.”

Anita Mendiraratta, Travel and Tourism Advisor and founder of the AM&A consultancy, described the implications of the fire and the closure of the airport as “very wide.”

“What we must also take into account is beyond passenger traffic, more than 4,000 tons of load pass through Heathrow every day,” CNBC's “Europe of Squawk Box” told CNBC.

According to a position, more than 1.4 million tons of load entered and left Heathrow in 2023, according to a post on the airport website, with 90% of the goods transported in the control of passenger airplanes.

Airport officials said they will update travelers “when there is more information about the resumption of available operations.”

Travelers can consult the website or social media platforms of Heathrow Airport, including X, to obtain the most recent information.