London’s Heathrow Airport will resume flights tomorrow March 22, 2025, after closing for a day due to a significant power outage caused by a fire at a nearby electrical substation.
Dublin airport’s 17 rotations to Heathrow today, 11 from Aer Lngus and six from British Airways, have been cancelled as have Heathrow services from Belfast (7 rotation), Cork (4 rotations), Shannon (4 rotations), Derry (3 rotations) and Knock (one rotation).
The fire erupted at an electrical substation in Hayes, prompting the London Fire Brigade to deploy ten fire engines and approximately 70 firefighters to combat the blaze.
Approximately 150 people have been evacuated, and a safety cordon of 200 meters has been established around the incident area as a precaution.
Firefighters responded to the emergency call at 11:23 p.m. local time on March 20 and have remained on site throughout the night to manage the situation.There were 1,351 scheduled flights, 665 departures and 669 arrivals) Passengers are advised to avoid traveling to Heathrow and should reach out to their airlines for updates regarding flight status and travel arrangements.
Flights from Toronto, Atlanta, Bridgetown Barbados, Boston, Orlando and Newark diverted to Shannon. Some flights from the US were turning around mid-air and returning to their point of departure. There were 120 Heathrow-bound aircraft in the air at the time of the announcement. Amsterdam took seven diversions, Frankfurt, Gatwick, Paris, Shannon and Washington six each, and Glasgow, Madrid, Manchester, and New York JFK five each.
The airlines that were due to arrive at Heathrow Airport on Friday by capacity:
- British Airways: 67,962
- Virgin Atlantic: 9,058
- Lufthansa: 3,780
- American Airlines: 5,744
- Aer Lingus: 3,484
- United Airlines: 3,673
- SAS: 2,520
- Swiss: 2,000
- Eurowings: 1,906
- Delta Air Lines: 2,687
- Other 67 airlines: 9,790
- Total: 145,836
Heathrow airport shared: “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.”
A later statement shared: “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.“
At 16.13 Heathrow shared: We hope to run a full operation tomorrow and will provide further information shortly. Our priority remains the safety of our passengers and those working at the airport. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident. Our teams have worked tirelessly since the incident to ensure a speedy recovery. We’re now safely able to restart flights, prioritising repatriation and relocation of aircraft. Please do not travel to the airport unless your airline has advised you to do so.
British Airways which had 341 flights scheduled to land at the airport, shared: “This will clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers, and we are working as quickly as possible to update them on their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond.”
Aer Lingus shared: London Heathrow Airport is closed today due to a significant power outage. As a result all Aer Lingus services to and from London Heathrow today are being cancelled until further notice. Impacted customers are being contacted directly. Customers with queries about flights can: Check your flight status for the latest updates, Check information on the operation of your departure airport – Airports by Region, If your booking was made through a third party (such as a travel agent, online agency, or another airline), please be aware that they may receive flight status updates on your behalf, If your travel itinerary also includes a booking with another airline, please contact the airline directly for your options.
Mary Considine CEO of Shannon Airport shared: “So far, Shannon Airport has facilitated six diverted flights originally scheduled to land at Heathrow, including flights from Toronto, Atlanta, Bridgetown Barbados, Boston, Orlando and Newark. The first of these flights landed safely at 04:26am this morning. All passengers from the six diverted flights departed Shannon Airport after 12:15pm and are being bussed to hotels,. Their respective airlines, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and United Airlines, will contact these passengers with further updates.
