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51
Chaos In The Skies After “Explosion” Closes Down Heathrow Airport, Diverts Thousands Of Flights
A massive fire has disrupted operations at London’s Heathrow Airport, affecting more than 1,300 flights.
The airport, one of the busiest in the world, will be closed on Friday due to a fire at a nearby electricity substation, leading to a massive power outage.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
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Operations at Heathrow Airport were disrupted after a massive fire at a nearby electricity substation
Image credits: TheInsiderPaper
Highlights
- Operations at Heathrow Airport were disrupted after a massive fire took place at a nearby electricity substation.
- The London Fire Brigade said they received around 200 calls about a large explosion.
- Some flights that took off from parts of the US turned around midair and landed back where they departed from.
- “It is absolute chaos,” a social media user said.
Image credits: PawlowskiMario
The closure of the major travel destination is expected to have global impact.
At least 120 flights in the air heading to Heathrow were diverted to other airports, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
Image credits: PolitlcsUK
Some 1,351 flights due to land and take off at Heathrow to other parts of the world were affected on Friday.
“That doesn’t include any flights that might be canceled or delayed due to aircraft being out of position,” FlightRadar24 said.
Some 1,351 flights due to land and take off at the airport, one of the busiest in the world, have been affected
Huge fire at hayes pic.twitter.com/4pywkxRfE1
— Mansoor Ameeri (@AmeeriMansoor) March 21, 2025
Ian Petchenik, spokesman for FlightRadar24, said, “This is going to disrupt airlines’ operations around the world” as Heathrow “is one of the major hubs of the world.”
It is believed the fire in Hayes, West London, started at an electrical substation that supplies power to the major aviation hub.
Image credits: JoselynEMuirhe1
Image credits: HeathrowAirport
The London Fire Brigade said nearly 200 locals made calls to raise the alarm about a large explosion around 11:23 p.m. on Thursday night.
Heathrow Airport warned passengers to “expect significant disruption over the coming days” and passengers should not travel to the airport “under any circumstances until the airport reopens.”
Fire at Hayes substation has lead to blackout in most of west London area. Heathrow airport included. pic.twitter.com/VwwTWxnn0d
— Senores (@naseefinish) March 21, 2025
Image credits: flightradar24
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights were diverted to the Gatwick Airport nearby.
Some flights that took off from parts of the US turned around midair and landed back where they departed from.
Flights from the US turned around midair and landed back at the airport they took off from
Image credits: zain_018
Fire at Hayes power station. pic.twitter.com/t6U6maNUfu
— Muirheedz (@JoselynEMuirhe1) March 21, 2025
British Airways acknowledged the situation, as the airline had 341 flights scheduled to land at the affected airport Friday.
“This will clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers, and we are working as quickly as possible to update them on their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond,” the carrier said.
Aside from the British airport, the fire in Hayes has also caused massive disruption on the ground, with the power outage impacting over 16,000 homes.
Image credits: AmeeriMansoor
@BBCLondonNews There’s a huge fire in Hayes – London, looks like North Hyde Electricity sub station pic.twitter.com/PJNpbHjZxu
— Vil (@fire_at_Vill) March 20, 2025
“A fire at North Hyde substation in West London has damaged equipment, leading to a loss of power supply in the area,” National Grid UK said in a statement.
“We are working at speed to restore power supplies as quickly as possible and will provide an update as soon as we can,” added the UK’s electricity and gas transmission network.
“It is absolute chaos,” a social media user said about the situation
Poll Question
What do you think is the most significant impact of the Heathrow Airport closure?
Disruption to global airline operations
Inconvenience for passengers
Impact on the local economy
Power outage in the surrounding areas
What do you think ?
Jrog 1 day ago (edited)
MET counterterrorism unit has been involved in the investigation. In the last couple years, Russian agents have been linked to infrastructure sabotage and fires in several European countries (Poland, England and Germany for sure, possibly more), as well as to a plan to ship incendiary devices by mail to cause aviation accidents (two such packages detonated in DHL warehouses, one on a plane that crashed in Lithuania as a result). 59 incidents were linked to Russian activities, including arson, cyberattacks, vandalism, stalking journalists and embassy attacks were documented in the last year.
Christos Arvanitis 1 day ago
My wife was supposed to be on a flight from Prague to London and then to the US. She had to change it last minute to fly through Vienna instead. Her work paid for it because it was crazy expensive. What a mess for this to happen at Heathrow.
John O'Donnell 1 day ago
It was strange not being woken up by a plane flying overhead at 6am this morning.
Jrog 1 day ago (edited)
MET counterterrorism unit has been involved in the investigation. In the last couple years, Russian agents have been linked to infrastructure sabotage and fires in several European countries (Poland, England and Germany for sure, possibly more), as well as to a plan to ship incendiary devices by mail to cause aviation accidents (two such packages detonated in DHL warehouses, one on a plane that crashed in Lithuania as a result). 59 incidents were linked to Russian activities, including arson, cyberattacks, vandalism, stalking journalists and embassy attacks were documented in the last year.
Christos Arvanitis 1 day ago
My wife was supposed to be on a flight from Prague to London and then to the US. She had to change it last minute to fly through Vienna instead. Her work paid for it because it was crazy expensive. What a mess for this to happen at Heathrow.
John O'Donnell 1 day ago
It was strange not being woken up by a plane flying overhead at 6am this morning.
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