Members of the British Airways Crew arrive in Terminal 5 in Heathro on March 21, 2025 in London, England.
Peter Nichols | Getty images
The Heathro Airport in London was reopened on Saturday, but passengers are being warned of significant delays as the airlines have scrambled to resume flights and return the trapped passengers.
Europe’s busiest airport was Most closed for Friday According to the flight-tracking site flightware, more than 800 flights were canceled inside and outside the airport after a power outage after a fire in a nearby electrical substation.
The first flight took off from the airport late on Friday, however, and the airport departure board Indicates that most flights are due to being scheduled on Saturday.
The airport said on its website on Saturday, “Flights in Heathro have resumed after yesterday’s power outage.”
“If you are reasons for traveling today, we still advise you Contact your airline For the latest flight information before going to the airport. We apologize for disintegration and appreciate your patience while the operation returns normally. ,
The National Grid said on Saturday that power supply to all customers including Heathro was restored, which resumed operations.
“We are now implementing measures to help improve the flexibility levels of our network,” the utility company said in a statement.
“We are deeply sorry for this disintegration and continue to work with the government, Heathro and the police to understand the cause of this incident.”
The Metropolitan police of London said that while “there was no indication of foul play,” the anti -terrorism division would now lead the investigation into the fire.
Bal said, “Given the location of the substation and the incident has an impact on the important national infrastructure, the Met’s counter terrorism commands are now making major inquiries,” the force said. Post on X.
‘expect delays’
Airlines are running to resume flights and take thousands of stranded passengers to their final destinations.
British Airways Whether the airline was the most affected by the incident, more than half of its Friday schedules were canceled. It said that it hopes to run the majority of its heathro schedule on Saturday, but customers should expect a delay.
The ground crew loaded the cargo and supplied airplanes from airlines, including Lufthansa Group, Emirates, Austrian Airlines and British Airways, as they stood in Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) at Los Angeles International Airport (LX) at Los Angeles International Airport (LX) in L Segundo, California on September 11, 2023.
Patrick t. Fallen | AFP | Getty images
The airline said in a statement on Saturday, “We guess that about 85% of our Saturday 22 March will run as a heathro schedule plan, but our size is extremely complex to recover, so our customers will feel delayed.”
“We are advising customers to visit the airport until otherwise. If your flight is going to be interrupted, we will contact you as soon as possible so that you can know what you need to do.”
It states that it was offering a “flexible option”, enabling those who were re -booking for a different date for free due to traveling from Heathro at the end of this week.
Meanwhile, the Virgin Atlantic said on Saturday planned to run “a close program with limited cancellation”.
According to its website at Heathro Airport, there is an estimated 1,300 takeoff and landing at the airport per day. It handled a record 83.9 million passengers Last year – an increase of about 6% from 2023.
The incident has questioned the dependence of the airport on single power source.
Willy Walsh-British Airways-Malik’s former CEO IAG And now the CEO of IATA, an airline industry group – criticized the Heathro Airport for its “total plan failure” and questioned who would cover the costs of the resulting disruptions.
“We should find an appropriate allocation of the cost of passenger care compared to the airlines,” he said, when the infrastructure fails, “he said. “Until this happens, heathro has little encouragement to improve.”
