The company that manages London's Heathrow International Airport — Europe's largest — announced the suspension of its operations for the entire day due to a power outage caused by a fire at a substation in the electricity network.
"Heathrow is experiencing a major power outage. To ensure the safety of passengers and colleagues," the airport will remain closed "until 23:59 on March 21" (local time; until 01:59 tomorrow Saturday Greek time), Heathrow Airport Holdings announced.
The management company also warned that it expects “serious disruptions” to traffic “in the coming days.” According to the specialized website FlightRadar24, many aircraft have already been forced to change flight plans.
The London Fire Brigade is reporting a "major" fire at a substation in Hayes, a western suburb of the British capital, which guarantees the supply of electricity to the airport.
In addition to the airport, "a large number of households and businesses" in the area are also experiencing power outages, said Pat Golburn, a fire department spokesman.
"Our firefighters are working tirelessly in difficult conditions to bring the fire under control as quickly as possible," he added. Heathrow urged travellers to "avoid" travelling to the airport "until it reopens".
Europe's largest airport is also one of the five busiest in the world, serving over 80 million passengers annually, or 230.000 per day.
Among the flights that had to change course was a Qantas flight from Perth (Australia), which was diverted to Charles de Gaulle, Paris (France), as well as a United Airlines flight from New York (USA), which was diverted to Shannon, Ireland, according to FlightRadar24 data.
"The impact is serious," says British Airways
In its first statement after the announcement of the closure of Heathrow, British Airways, which has this airport as its main base, warns that the latest developments will have a "significant impact" on its operations and its customers.
"We are working as quickly as possible to inform them about their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond," the statement added.
Source: protothema
