Heathrow has apologised for the inconvenience caused by the power outage.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “Our teams have worked tirelessly since the incident to ensure a speedy recovery. We’re pleased to say we’re now safely able to begin some flights later today.
“Our first flights will be repatriation flights and relocating aircraft. 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.
“Our priority remains the safety of our passengers and those working at the airport. As the busiest airport in Europe, Heathrow uses as much energy as a small city, therefore getting back to a full and safe operation takes time. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident.”
The first plane has landed at London’s Heathrow Airport since the fire, Associated Press reports.
The British Airways jet touched down on Friday about 18 hours after the airport was closed due to a massive power outage.
The chief executive of Heathrow said the airport expects to return to “100% operation” on Saturday after an “unprecedented” day of disruption.
Thomas Woldbye told the press: “We expect to be back in full operation, so 100% operation as a normal day.
“[Passengers] should come to the airport as they normally would. There’s no reason to come earlier.”
Of the airport’s closure on Friday after an outage caused by a fire, Mr Woldbye said: “This is unprecedented.
“It’s never happened before and that’s why I’m saying it has been a major incident.”
The disruption at Heathrow is also being felt in the stock market, Reuters reports.
Shares of British Airways parent IAG fell 1.9%, Lufthansa was down 1.7% and Ryanair dropped 2.3%. The travel and leisure sector closed 1.6% lower.
Sree Kochugovindan, senior research economist at aberdeen, said: “The full extent of the impact will depend on how quickly the airport reopens and whether this is a one-off incident. The near-term impact for airlines and businesses reliant on cargo is likely significant but temporary.”
Heathrow Airport’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye has also apologised to passengers disrupted by the closure of the airport on Friday but defended its response to the incident, saying “this is as big as it gets for our airport”.
He admitted to reporters outside the airport that the power supply of Heathrow is “a bit of a weak point” for the airport.
He said: “I’d like to stress that this has been an incident of major severity. It’s not a small fire.
“We have lost power equal to that of a mid-sized city and our backup systems have been working as they should but they are not sized to run the entire airport.”
Asked if there is a weak point in Heathrow’s power system, he said: “You can say that but of course contingencies of certain sizes we cannot guard ourselves against, 100%, and this is one of them.
“This has been a major incident. I mean, short of anybody getting hurt, this is as big as it gets for our airport and we are actually coming back quite fast I would say, when you consider the amount of systems that we have to shut down then bring back up and make sure that they’re safe.”
Passengers are finally able to walk in to Heathrow. It’s been a long day for many of them.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she had spoken to Heathrow Airport’s chief executive about “any lessons that might be learned for the future” after the fire at a substation which grounded flights on Friday.
There is no suggestion of foul play in the fire that caused Heathrow to close today, she said.
Like the British Airways chair and CEO Sean Doyle earlier (see 16.41) she described the situation at Heathrow as “absolutely unprecedented situation”, adding that it had been “outside of Heathrow’s control”.
She added: “I certainly didn’t expect to wake up this morning and see that huge fire happening.”
She thanked the emergency services for their response and the National Grid for getting power restored to the airport, as well as staff at Heathrow who have “worked tirelessly all day to get to a point today where flights are able to land again and where the airport hopes to resume full operations tomorrow”.
Asked what questions there are to answer about the incident, she said: “We need to understand what caused an incident of this magnitude at an electricity substation that is very close to a critical piece of national infrastructure.”
She said she was in close contact with the Energy Secretary, the home secretary and with Heathrow to “make sure that any lessons we need to learn from the systems that the airport has in place are learned”.
She added that counter-terrorism police are involved in identifying the cause of the substation fire because it took place next to a critical piece of national infrastructure.
“The counter-terrorism command has specific capabilities and capacities that mean that they are used to conducting investigations at pace, and it’s really important that we identify the cause of this quickly.
“There are no suggestions at the moment of foul play, but you will appreciate the investigation, keeps an open mind, and our priority is identifying the cause as soon as possible.”
The personal finance website Moneysavingexpert.com has published a detailed guide to explain your travel and refund rights if you have been affected by the disruption at Heathrow.
Reporter Emily White writes:
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Flying FROM Heathrow on any airline? You’re covered
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Flying TO Heathrow on a UK or EU airline? You’re also covered
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Flying TO Heathrow on a non-UK/EU airline? The UK/EU rules don’t apply, so you’ll need to approach the airline directly for any support regarding delays or cancellations. Alternatively, you could also try your travel insurer.
She advises that your airline should provide food and drink (or vouchers to buy them) if you’re delayed for more than two hours on a short-haul flight, three hours on medium haul (for example, Manchester to Malaga) or four hours for long haul. “If it’s unable to, you can buy your own and claim it back, but make sure you keep receipts,” she wrote. “Check if your airline’s website has any guidance on what it’ll cover.”
The airline should also provide accommodation if needed. “If the flight is delayed overnight you’re entitled to a hotel, and the airline must also provide transport to and from it,” she added. “Ideally it will arrange the hotel for you, so always check before you book somewhere.”
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said that although the law requires airlines to reroute passengers to their destination at the earliest opportunity, including with other carriers when necessary, sometimes airlines refuse to do so.
He said: “If passengers are being told by their airline to wait days for the next available flight, and have exhausted efforts to get them to rebook them on earlier departures with an alternate airline then they are within their rights to make that booking themselves and claim the money back.
“This should be a last resort, as your claim may well be contested by the airline leading to a lengthy claims process.”
We have an update about what top 10 airlines whose aircraft were set to arrive at Heathrow on Friday are saying about the closure to their passengers, thanks to research by reporters at Reuters.
Aer Lingus:
“Cancelling all flights to and from London Heathrow Airport until further notice today following the closure of the airport by the authorities.”
Air India:
“London Heathrow-bound AI129 from Mumbai is returning to Mumbai; AI161 from Delhi is diverting to Frankfurt. All our remaining flights to and from London Heathrow, including AI111 of this morning, have been cancelled for 21 March.”
American Airlines:
“American issued a travel alert, providing additional flexibility for customers impacted by the London Heathrow Airport closure.” Source: Data from Cirium Ascend, company statements. Note: The seats represent capacity, not ticketed passengers.”
British Airways:
“We’ve been given clearance by Heathrow Airport to depart eight of our long-haul flights today from 7pm. We are now urgently contacting customers to let them know so they can make their way to the airport from 5pm.”
Delta Air Lines:
“Delta has suspended operations to Heathrow Airport and provided customers additional flexibility in rebooking their travel.”
JetBlue:
All JetBlue flights to and from Heathrow will be cancelled and additional flights may be scheduled once the airport reopens to accommodate affected passengers.
Qantas
“Our Singapore-London and Perth-London services were diverted to Paris today, with buses arranged to take customers on to London.”
Ryanair:
The airline said in a post on X that it had added up to eight rescue flights between Dublin and London Stansted to rescue passengers affected by Heathrow’s closure.
United Airlines:
“We will continue to adjust our flying schedule to London in close coordination with airport authorities. At this time, we expect to operate most scheduled Friday departures to London.”
Virgin Atlantic:
“This has had a significant impact on our flying programme both into and out of Heathrow and all Virgin Atlantic arriving and departing flights are cancelled until midday on March 21, with the rest of today’s schedule currently under review.”
“All our 12 round trips are so far cancelled to and from Heathrow. We will keep affected passengers informed.”
Singapore Airlines:
A spokesperson for the airline said four flights from Singapore to London were affected and four flights from London to Singapore had been cancelled.
More people have been getting in touch with my colleagues Rachel Obordo and Jedidajah Otte to share their stories of all the travel disruption they have been experiencing.
Research engineer Richard, 35, from East Anglia is stranded in Shanghai after waiting at the boarding gate for nearly 10 hours. He’s been on a business trip in Shanghai for two weeks and is waiting for his flight to be rearranged.
“I’m in no rush to get back to the UK and I wouldn’t really be able to pay for a replacement flight anyway. Thankfully British Airways has booked all passengers into a hotel around 20 minutes from Shanghai Pudong airport. I hope I will be able to fly tomorrow.”
James from Devon is also stuck in China, in Guangzhou, after a five-day visit to look for new interior goods at a trade show. He said his airline China Southern have been “excellent” and have provided him and other passengers with accommodation and food vouchers.
“They’ve even been checking in with me every few hours which is nothing short of amazing,” said the 37-year-old.
“I need to get back to the UK and if I don’t get a solid update within the next few hours I will most likely start to look for other options. I’m not 100% sure when I’ll be returning home, but for now I’m very comfortable.
Some photos have emerged of the fire at the substation and the damage it caused:
Aviation consultant John Strickland has told the PA news agency the closure of Heathrow for an entire day is “a massive dislocation to have to recover from”.
He likened the disruption to what happened after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, when flights were grounded across the US, saying: “It’s a contained version of 9/11.”
Heathrow is Europe’s largest airport, with more than 83.9 million passengers travelling through its terminals in 2024.
British Airways has been given clearance for eight long-haul flights to depart Heathrow Airport today from 7pm, the airline said in a statement.
The airport is now “urgently contacting customers to let them know so they can make their way to the airport from 5pm”.
The only customers who should make their way to Heathrow Airport are those booked onto the following flights:
BA055 to Johannesburg
BA057 to Johannesburg
BA011 to Singapore
BA259 to Riyadh
BA045 to Cape Town
BA059 to Cape Town
BA015 to Sydney via Singapore
BA249 to Buenos Aires via Rio de Janeiro
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