LONDON — Britain’s Heathrow airport, Europe’s busiest, was shut down early Friday for 24 hours after a major fire at an electricity substation cut power to the sprawling
Britain’s Heathrow airport, Europe’s busiest, was shut down early Friday for 24 hours after a major fire at an electricity substation cut power to the sprawling facility west of London, officials said.
Airport authorities said they “expect significant disruption” over the coming days, with hundreds of flights and thousands of passengers affected.
“Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage,” the airport operator said in a statement on its website, adding it would be closed until just before midnight Friday (2359 GMT).
“Passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.”
Online flight tracking service FlightRadar24 said Heathrow’s closure would affect at least 1,351 flights to and from the airport.
It said 120 flights to the airport were in the air when the closure was announced.
London Fire Brigade said there had been a “significant” fire at a substation in Hayes, a nearby town in the London borough of Hillingdon, which caused the power outage.
It said 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters were on the scene, while around 150 people had been evacuated from nearby properties.
