March 21, 2025
We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.
London’s Heathrow Airport in a statement to the media. A “significant power outage” caused by a nearby fire has halted all operations at one of the world’s busiest airports.
Why It Matters: A fire erupted at an electrical substation, prompting a major power outage and total shutdown of Heathrow Airport. More than 1,300 flights have been directly impacted as the airport will be closed until at least tomorrow. Heathrow’s closure will likely cause further disruption in global travel as it’s one of the major hubs in the world. A timeline for restored operations has yet to be determined, and the cause of the substation fire remains under investigation.
- According to CNN, “Heathrow was the world’s fourth-busiest airport in 2023, according to the most recent data. Last year, a record-breaking 83.9 million passengers passed through.”
- Aviation analyst Geoffrey Thomas explained to CNN: “Heathrow handles about a quarter of a million passengers a day. It does that with about 1,300 flights a day. We’ve got literally hundreds of flights coming in from the United States, from Southeast Asia, the Middle East.”
- The electrical substation fire erupted in a suburb a few miles away from the airport, causing more than 16,000 homes to lose power on Thursday night. As of Friday morning, first responders were still trying to extinguish the fire though it is “under control.”
Read More: Global travel disruption after Heathrow Airport shuts down over power outage caused by fire (CNN)
Photo Credit: Tomek Baginski / Unsplash
by Emily Hooker, based in Texas
