Heathrow airport reopens but ‘huge impact’ on travel expected for days – live updates
Heathrow ‘open and fully operational’
Heathrow airport says “flights have resumed at Heathrow following yesterday’s power outage” and the airport is now “fully operational”.
It added that and that hundreds of additional staff have been drafted in to help clear the backlog of flights.
A statement read:
We can confirm that Heathrow is open and fully operational today. Teams across the airport continue to do everything they can to support passengers impacted by yesterday’s outage at an off-airport power substation.
We have hundreds of additional colleagues on hand in our terminals and we have added flights to today’s schedule to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers travelling through the airport.
Passengers travelling today should check with their airline for the latest information regarding their flight.
Key events
Farah Rafeeq, 24, was due to travel with Singapore Airlines on Friday from Heathrow with her 32-year-old friend Niken Wulan to another friend’s wedding in Cambodia on Sunday.
The mass cancellation of flights means they will now miss part of the ceremony.
They have found an alternative flight from Gatwick Airport with Turkish Airlines and Bangkok Airways that will get them to Cambodia on Sunday afternoon.
Ms Rafeeq, who works in climate project management, told the PA news agency from Gatwick on Saturday: “The last few hours have been nightmarish because it is one of our closest friends’ wedding, and we have to travel for at least 20 hours to get there.
“We had to pay double the amount, between £600 and £700, for the new flight, and we had planned this trip for months and had hotels booked and are flying to Southeast Asia after the wedding.”
The substation fire was a “catastrophic failure” Robin Preece, a senior lecturer in future power systems at the University of Manchester, tells Sky News.
“Although we do sometimes see transformers or bits of electrical equipment fail, actually having them fail so catastrophically that they cause a large fire – which then leads the whole substation to be shut down – that’s what really tips this from being a more normal event into something that’s very, very unlikely,” he said
Earlier, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the Department for Transport was “taking action to help people get where they need to be”, highlighting the news that the department had lifted restrictions on night flights to ease the backlog and rail tickets could be used flexibly to help passengers.
Good afternoon, Guardian readers,
If you have been affected by the disruption at Heathrow Airport in any way and would like to share your stories, please get in touch.
My email address:
Air India confirmed on Saturday that its flights to and from Heathrow airport had recommenced.
In a post on X, the airline wrote:
Our operations to and from London Heathrow (LHR) have recommenced after the disruption at the airport yesterday due to a power outage.
Today’s flight AI111 was on schedule and other flights, to and from London, are expected to operate as per schedule.
AI161 of 21 March, which was diverted to Frankfurt, is expected to leave Frankfurt at 14:05 pm local time.”
Allan Glen
Virgin Atlantic issued a statement on Saturday apologising for the disruption at Heathrow airport and said it planned to run a “near full schedule with limited cancellations today”.
The airline said Heathrow’s closure on Friday had left an “impact on today’s flying programme”, including the repositioning of aircraft and crews.
Here is the Guardian’s news piece on the chief executive of Heathrow defending the running of the airport after a fire at an electrical substation:
Here are some images from Heathrow airport this morning, via the newswires:
Reporters for the PA news agency have been speaking to passengers at Heathrow airport this morning. Here are some of the reactions to the travel disruption:
Farah Rafeeq, 24, was due to travel with Singapore Airlines on Friday from Heathrow with her 32-year-old friend Niken Wulan, who is pregnant, to another friend’s wedding in Cambodia on Sunday. The mass cancellation of flights means they will now miss part of the ceremony.
They have found an alternative flight from Gatwick airport with Turkish Airlines and Bangkok Airways that will get them to Cambodia for Sunday afternoon.
Rafeeq, who works in climate project management, told the PA news agency from Gatwick airport on Saturday:
The last few hours have been nightmarish because it is one of our closest friends’ wedding and we have to travel for at least 20 hours to get there.
We had to pay double the amount, between £600 and £700, for the new flight, and we had planned this trip for months and had hotels booked and are flying to south-east Asia after the wedding.
We are missing the morning ceremony but at least we can make it for the reception.”
Meanwhile, an American tourist has praised his airline’s and Heathrow’s “fantastic” response to a fire that closed the transport hub on Friday.
Speaking at Heathrow, Tim Kolb, who travelled to the UK on holiday from Dallas, Texas, told the PA news agency:
I was just getting ready to board the plane on Thursday night, and the news actually started coming across on our phones quicker than on the [airport] desk.
But American Airlines did a fabulous job – we didn’t have to wait in the line or anything. They got us our accommodation reservation.”
Kolb, 55, added:
I thought I was going to be there [Dallas] delayed two days, but I went over yesterday.
It was organised well. In fact, they had several planes leaving within an hour of each other to Heathrow. The way everybody responded and fell into action, it was fantastic.”
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said it was “good to see Heathrow airport return to full operations this morning”, in a post on social media.
Alexander wrote on X:
Good to see Heathrow airport return to full operations this morning. Passengers should continue to check with their airline before travelling.
Passengers should continue to check with their airline before travelling.”
She added that the Department for Transport was “taking action to help people get where they need to be”, highlighting the news that the department had lifted restrictions on night flights to ease the backlog and rail ticketscan be used flexibly to help passengers.
Heathrow airport has confirmed that it had added 50 slots to Saturday’s schedule to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers travelling through the airport.
A statement from Heathrow says flights have officially resumed and advised passengers to contact their airlines if they are due to fly on Saturday.
To provide some context, Heathrow is Europe’s largest airport, with more than 83.9 million passengers travelling through its terminals in 2024.
Friday’s closure is believed to be the worst disruption at Heathrow since December 2010, when thousands of Christmas getaway passengers camped in the terminals because of widespread cancellations caused by snow, reports the PA news agency.
In April of that year, air travel was grounded across Europe because of an ash cloud caused by an Icelandic volcanic eruption.
On Friday, other airports accepted diverted flights originally destined for Heathrow, including London’s Gatwick airport and Shannon airport in County Clare.
All terminals and car parks at Heathrow are open, the airport has confirmed.
In a post on X, Heathrow airport said:
Flights have resumed at Heathrow, and we are open and fully operational. All terminals and all car parks are open across Heathrow.”
Counter-terrorism officers from the Metropolitan police have been leading the investigation into the cause of the Hayes fire, which did not result in any casualties at the scene.
“After initial assessment, we are not treating this incident as suspicious, although inquiries do remain ongoing,” Cmdr Simon Messinger said, according to the PA news agency.
Sammy Gecsoyler
Chirping birds and unbroken skies come as standard in many English villages, though not in Harmondsworth – which lies under Heathrow’s flight path. But Friday was different.
“It’s been peace and tranquillity,” said 72-year-old Andrew Melville, who has lived in the village, which straddles the border of London and Berkshire, for 49 years. “Especially not being woken up by transatlantic flights in the early morning.”
The travel hub, which is one of the busiest in the world, came to a standstill on Friday morning after a fire at an electrical substation in Hayes, west London. More than 1,300 flights have been grounded and counter-terrorism police have launched an investigation into the cause of the blaze.
The airport’s closure has caused travel misery for many but those living nearby have been given rare respite from the roaring planes that shatter the illusion of village life.
“Usually we get an early morning call and a late-night goodnight,” said Melville, describing the unsociable times that massive, long-haul jets land and take off. “Days like today are blissful because we can go about our normal lives.”
The last time people in the village saw the skies this clear was during the Covid lockdowns. “They were awful but this village was great back then. People running around, cycling on bikes and listening to the birds. You could even hear yourself think,” said Melville.
David Page, 71, who lives in the nearby village of Longford, has also noticed a change. “It has gotten rid of all the hire cars that park at the top of the village,” he said. While he is enjoying the peace and quiet, Page said people who choose to live in the village should expect some noise. “You don’t move to Longford for peace. You move here because you’re working just over there,” he said, pointing towards the airport.
Mark Gerts
The closure of Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, due to a fire at a nearby electrical substation dominates the front pages of British newspapers on Saturday, with more than 1,350 flights cancelled and journeys disrupted for hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The Guardian splashes with “Chaos and anger as fire shuts Heathrow airport”, above a picture of anxious travellers, and an article that focuses on Downing Street’s reaction: that there are “questions to answer” as to how a power failure could cause such disruption.
The Times leans into the blame narrative with “Heathrow chaos puts bosses in firing line”, elaborating in its subheading with “Holidays ruined” and “Travellers stranded abroad”.
The Daily Telegraph calls it the “Colossal failure of Heathrow blackout” next to a photo of the secretary of state for energy, Ed Miliband, who, as the subheading explains, “admits site looks ‘vulnerable’”.
You can find all the front pages and analysis here:
Several airlines announced they would restart scheduled flights both to and from Heathrow airport, including British Airways (BA), Air Canada and United Airlines.
A BA flight to Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, took off just before 9pm after a slight delay to its expected departure time, according to the PA news agency.
Restrictions on overnight flights have also been temporarily lifted to help ease congestion, the Department for Transport said.
