London’s Heathrow Airport was forced to close abruptly on Friday after a massive fire broke out at a nearby power substation, causing a complete blackout. The fire began around 11:00 PM GMT, Thursday. It sent thick plumes and huge flames into the air, resulting in a complete suspension of airport operations.
Authorities have not confirmed what caused the fire that involved 25,000-liters of cooling fluid in the transformer at the substation. Due to the critical infrastructure, even though there is no immediate evidence of foulplay, the investigation is being conducted by counter-terrorism agents.
Heathrow’s shutdown has caused global air traffic to be disrupted in a similar way as the Icelandic ash clouds in 2010, when around 100,000 flights were grounded. The shutdown on Friday affected approximately 1,351 flights and up to 291 000 passengers. Many flights were diverted to other airports in Britain and Europe. Some long-haul planes were even forced back to their origins.
Airlines and industry experts have begun to prepare for a significant financial cost, with losses that could reach tens of million of pounds. Industry leaders are also growing more concerned about accountability and prevention strategies as they question the vulnerability of airport infrastructure.
Heathrow remains shut, leaving stranded travellers with long delays and the difficult task of rearranging plans. The fire brigade managed to control the fire by dousing the site in firefighting foam. However, the extent of damage and duration of the airport closure are still uncertain.
As aircraft and crews are forced to move out of position, airlines will have to quickly reorganize the network.
Heathrow flights have been diverted to other European airports, as follows:
- Five such services landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Two had come from Singapore – a Qantas and a Singapore Airlines flight. The other flights were a Qantas from Perth, Australia, an Emirates flight from Dubai and a RwandAir flight from Kigali.
- Seven flights have had to be diverted to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Delta flights from Detroit and Boston in the US; two Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong; a British Airways flight out of Riyadh and a Malaysia Airlines flight out of Kuala Lumpur.
- Frankfurt has seen six diverted planes land. These were a Singapore Airlines service from Singapore, an Air India flight from Delhi, a Gulf Air flight from Bahrain, an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi and two services from Doha – one a Qatar Airways service, and the other a British Airways one.
