The British Airport from Heathrow said that it would be closed all Friday after a big fire in a nearby electric substation had extinguished electricity and the flight plans all over the world disturbed.
The London Feuerbrigade said that around 70 firefighters in the west of London had proported to the fire in the west of the fire, which caused a mass current failure in Heathrow, the most busy and fifth strongest airport in the world.
Huge orange flames and black clouds of smoke were at night before firefighters said they had the fire under control. In the early morning, the streets around the largest Airport in Great Britain were largely abandoned, with the exception of some passengers who went away with their luggage.
“Our fire investigators start their investigation and we will continue to work closely with our partners to minimize
Disorder and support of the community, “said the fire brigade.
It is said that the cause of the fire is not known. Energy Minister Ed Miliband said it was not a bad game.
Heathrow said the airport, which was supposed to carry out 1,351 flights during the day and flew up to 291,000 passengers, would
Stay closed until midnight because it had a significant power failure. According to Flightradar24, the flight tracking had to redirect at least 120 incoming flights to Heathrow to other airports.
“Passengers are recommended not to travel to the airport and should contact your airline to get more information,” said Heathrow. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”
The fire, which was reported on Thursday shortly after 11 p.m. local time, forced aircraft at airports at airports across Great Britain
And Europe, while many long -haul flights simply returned to their starting point.
Miliband said the “catastrophic” fire prevented the power supply system from it and the engineers worked on using a third backup mechanism.
“With such an incident, we want to understand why it happened and what if any lessons are suitable for our infrastructure,” he told Sky News.
Flights are diverted worldwide
Industry experts said that tourism, travel and trade would continue to be interrupted worldwide because the flights are no longer able due to aircraft.
“Heathrow is one of the most important hubs in the world,” said Ian Petchenik, spokesman for the flight tracking website FLIGHRADAR24. “This will disturb the operations of the airlines all over the world.”
British Airways himself planned 341 flights to land in Heathrow on Friday.
“This will clearly have a significant impact on our company and our customers, and we work as soon as possible to update them for the next 24 hours and beyond their travel options,” it said.
The fire forced aircraft to redirect the world.
Qantas Airways sent his flight from Perth to Paris, a flight from United Airlines New York to Shannon, Ireland, and a flight from United Airlines by San Francisco landed more in Washington, DC than in London.
Some flights from the United States turned in the middle of the air and returned to their starting point.
“Heathrow is one of the most important hubs in the world,” said Ian Petchenik, spokesman for FLIGHTRADAR24. “This will disturb the operations of the airlines all over the world.”
Airline chaos predicted in the coming days
Travel experts said that the disorder would extend far beyond Heathrow
The carefully choreographed networks of airlines depend on aircraft and crews at certain areas at certain times. Dozens of aviation companies have to quickly configure their networks to move aircraft and crews.
“The other question is: ‘What will airlines do to deal with the deficit of the passengers?” It will be a few chaotic days. “
Some passengers turned to social media. Adrian Spender, who works at a British retailer Tesco, said in a post on X that he was in an Airbus A380 that had driven to Heathrow.
Airplanes redirected
“#Heathrow no idea where we are going. Currently about Austria.”
Heathrow and the other major airports of London have been affected by failures in recent years, most recently by an automated gate error and a collapse of the air traffic system, both in 2023.
A spokesman for Heathrow said Reuters in an e -mail that there was no clarity about when the power would be restored, and they expected considerable disorders in the coming days.
Some houses and companies were without power on site in London. “Firefighters brought 29 people to safety from neighboring properties, and as a precaution, a 200-meter cord was set up, with around 150 people being evacuated,” said the fire brigade.
