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Global flight turmoil as London's Heathrow closed by huge fire - REUTERS
By Kate Holton, Ben Makori and Sarah Young
Summary
- Heathrow to be closed all of Friday
- Flights diverted around the world
- Fire at substation still raging
LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - Britain's Heathrow Airport was shut on Friday after a huge fire at a nearby electrical substation knocked out its power, disrupting flight schedules around the world. Around 70 firefighters were tackling the blaze in the west of London, which also knocked out the area's back-up power system, leading to a mass outage at Heathrow, Europe's busiest and the world's fifth-busiest airport.
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Huge orange flames and plumes of black smoke could be seen shooting into the sky during the night before firefighters said they had the blaze under control. By early morning the roads around Britain's biggest airport were largely deserted, except for some passengers walking away with their luggage.
"Our fire investigators will begin their investigation and we will continue working closely with our partners to minimise disruption and support the community," the fire brigade said. It said the cause of the fire was not known. Energy Minister Ed Miliband said it did not appear to be foul play. Heathrow said the airport, which was due to handle 1,351 flights during the day, flying up to 291,000 passengers, would stay closed until midnight as it was experiencing a significant power outage. "Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information," it said. "We apologise for the inconvenience." Advertisement · Scroll to continue
The fire, which was reported just after 11 p.m. (2300 GMT) on Thursday, forced planes to divert to airports across Britain and Europe, while many long-haul flights simply returned to their point of departure. Miliband said the "catastrophic" fire had prevented the power back-up system from working and that engineers were working to deploy a third back-up mechanism. "With any incident like this we will want to understand why it happened and what if any lessons it has for our infrastructure," he told Sky News.
CHAOS AHEAD
Industry experts warned that some passengers forced to land in Europe may have to stay in transit lounges if they lack the visa paperwork to leave the airport. Global flight schedules will also be affected more broadly, as many aircraft will now be out of position. "Heathrow is one of the major hubs of the world," said Ian Petchenik, spokesman for flight tracking website FlightRadar24. "This is going to disrupt airlines' operations around th
