Heathrow Airport in Great Britain said it would be closed all Friday after a large fire in a nearby electric substation eliminated energy, which interrupted flight schedules worldwide.
The London Fire Brigade said that around 70 firefighters were addressing the fire in western London, which caused a mass blackout in Heathrow, the busiest in Europe and the fifth lowest airport in the world.
Huge flames oranges and smoke could be seen shooting at the sky. Around 150 people were evacuated from nearby buildings and thousands of properties were without energy.
The Fire Brigade said the cause of fire was not known.
“To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 11:59 pm on March 21,” Heathrow said in an X post, and added that passengers were advised not to travel to the airport.
According to the Fumtradar24 flight tracking website, at least 120 incoming flights to Heathrow had to divert other airports.
He said that at least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow would be affected on Friday, not including flights that could be canceled or delayed because the airplanes are out of position.
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British Airways had 341 flights scheduled to land in Heathrow on Friday.
“Heathrow is one of the main centers of the world,” said Ian Petchenik, Flightradar24 spokesman. “This will interrupt the operations of airlines worldwide.”
The impact was immediate. Qantas Airways sent its perth flight to Paris, a flight from United Airlines New York went to Shannon, Ireland and a United Airlines flight from San Francisco owed land in Washington, DC instead of London.
Some flights from the USA would say in the air and return to their starting point.
Chaotic days ahead
Travel experts said the interruption would extend far beyond the carefully choreographed networks of Heathrow Airlines depend on the airplanes and equipment being in specific locations at specific times. Dozens of aircraft carriers will have to hastily reconfigure their networks to move airplanes and crews.
“The other question is: ‘What will airlines do to deal with the accumulation of passengers?’
“They will be a couple of chaotic days.” A Heathrow spokesman told Reuters in an email that there was no clarity about when energy would be restored, and expected a significant interruption in the next few days.
In the field in London, several houses and businesses were without energy. “Firefighters have taken 29 people to a safe place for neighboring properties, and as a precaution, a 200 -meter cord has been established, with about 150 evacuated people,” said the Fire Brigade.
