London’s Heathrow Airport Resumes Some Flights after ‘Significant Power Outage’

Oluchi Chibuzor with agency report

One of the busiest airports in the world, London’s Heathrow, resumed some flights after being closed for most of yesterday after a fire at a nearby electrical substation caused a power outage.

The first plane landed around 6:30p.m. local time, the Associated Press reported.

The airport said the fire late Thursday night at an electrical substation supplying the airport had caused a “significant power outage,” but yesterday afternoon, an airport spokesperson said teams had “worked tirelessly since the incident to ensure a speedy recovery” and that the facility was “safely able to begin some flights later today.” After the announcement, at least one plane could be seen taxiing.

“Please do not travel to the airport unless your airline has advised you to do so,” the statement said. “We will now work with the airlines on repatriating the passengers who were diverted to other airports in Europe. We hope to run a full operation tomorrow and will provide further information shortly.”

CBS News quoted the spokesperson to have noted that, “as the busiest airport in Europe, Heathrow uses as much energy as a small city, therefore getting back to a full and safe operation takes time.”

Heathrow had initially said no flights would go in or out until the end of yesterday, warning that it expected “significant disruption over the coming days.”

London’s Metropolitan Police said there was “currently no indication of foul play,” but that counterterrorism police would lead the investigation into the substation fire that shut down Europe’s busiest airport.

“Given the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is now leading enquiries. This is due to the specialist resources and capabilities within that command that can assist in progressing this investigation at pace to minimise disruption and identify the cause,” the police said in a statement.