News | Transport
Flights have begun landing at Heathrow as the airport works to return to normal operations on Saturday following its closure due to a major power failure.
Flights resumed at the west London hub on Friday evening after a fire at an electricity substation in Hayes late Thursday knocked out power to terminals and grounded hundreds of flights.
Metropolitan Police confirmed they are not treating the incident as suspicious, with London Fire Brigade investigators focusing on the electrical distribution equipment as the likely cause.
Heathrow Airport’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye told reporters on Friday afternoon: “We expect to be back in full operation (tomorrow), so 100 per cent operation as a normal day.
“(Passengers) should come to the airport as they normally would. There’s no reason to come earlier.”
According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, British Airways flight BA56 from Johannesburg was the first regular passenger service to land at Heathrow since the shutdown, touching down at 4.37am.
British Airways, which operates a major hub at Heathrow, announced it expects to run approximately 85 per cent of its scheduled flights from the airport on Saturday as services gradually return to normal.
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Heathrow Airport has confirmed it is “open and fully operational” today following major disruption caused by a power outage at an off-site substation.
In a statement, a spokesperson said teams across the airport were working hard to support passengers impacted by yesterday’s issues. “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,” they said.
Travellers are still being advised to check with their airline for the latest updates before heading to the airport.
The first aircraft touched down at Heathrow at 04:45am this morning following yesterday’s airport chaos – but disruption continues to plague Britain’s busiest airport.
Nine of the day’s first 20 scheduled arrivals were scrapped, affecting passengers from major global hubs including Singapore, Doha, New York, Nairobi and Lagos.
Heathrow chief Thomas Woldbye insists the airport is aiming for “full operation” today. However, British Airways warns only 85 per cent of its planned flights will operate, with delays expected throughout the day.
It’s approaching 6.30am in London and the first planes of the day are shortly due to take off from Heathrow, following yesterday’s chaotic total closure of the airport.
Three flights are expected to depart on time – a TAP Air Portugal bound for Lisbon, an Austrian Airlines to Vienna, and a Swiss Airlines flight to Zurich.
According to Heathrow, just one of the day’s first 20 scheduled departures has been cancelled – the 06:35 Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul.
Eight aircraft were permitted to depart yesterday evening, all operating long-haul routes.
Our live coverage will resume early tomorrow morning.
In a statement on Friday evening, London Fire Brigade Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Smith said: “London Fire Brigade Fire Investigation Officers, supported by a scientific adviser, have been working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to investigate the cause of this fire.
“The MPS has confirmed that the fire is believed to be non-suspicious. LFB’s investigation will now focus on the electrical distribution equipment.
“The Brigade is the enforcing authority for the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and has therefore had Fire Safety Officers at the scene to follow up various lines of enquiry, and work will continue into the coming weeks.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Firefighters and Control officers for their courage and professionalism in bringing this incident under control in what were very challenging circumstances.”
The fire at the electricity substation which led to Heathrow Airport’s closure on Friday “is believed to be non-suspicious” and the investigation will”focus on the electrical distribution equipment”, London Fire Brigade said.
The first flight to land at Heathrow since the airport was closed due to a fire has just down.
The British Airways BAW35JG flight arrived from Gatwick Airport on the Heathrow tarmac just after 6pm UK time.
Restrictions on overnight flights have been temporarily lifted to help ease congestion following the closure of Heathrow Airport, the Department of Transport said in a post on X.
According to Heathrow’s website, there is no formal ban on night flights but since the 1960s, the Government has placed restrictions on them. There is an annual limit of 5,800 night-time take-offs and landings between the hours of 11.30pm and 6am as well as a nightly limit, which caps the amount of noise the airport can make at night.
The DfT also said it had allowed passengers to use rail tickets flexibly.
Joshua Richardson’s flight from Quantum, Perth, was diverted to Paris at 4am today, where over 400 passengers from two planes were put on coaches to their final destinations.
He arrived in Heathrow after travelling for over 32 hours in total, still needing to get to Oxford.
The 31-year-old said: “We first found out because the in-flight entertainment changed from Heathrow to Paris, and people were like, what’s going on?
“The pilot said Heathrow had lost power – the only place we could divert was Paris.
“We had to circle Paris for a bit, and you could see other planes circling too.
“There’s going to be some stories of people being messed up by this, so I won’t complain. All I am is tired and cranky.”
Passengers on board Qantas flights to Heathrow Airport from Singapore and Perth on Friday were diverted to Paris before taking buses to London, the airline said.
A Qantas spokesperson said: “Our Singapore-London and Perth-London services were diverted to Paris today, with buses arranged to take customers on to London.
“Our teams are working hard to support impacted customers and we thank them for their patience.”
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