London’s Heathrow Airport closed due to power outage, flights from Istanbul affected

U.K.’s Heathrow Airport (LHR), the busiest in Europe, was forced to shut down for 24 hours early Friday after a fire at a nearby power substation caused a major outage, the airport announced via X.

“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 (11:59 p.m. GMT).

“Passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.”

Following the incident, Türkiye’s flag carrier Turkish Airlines canceled six flights departing from Istanbul Airport (IST), affecting thousands of passengers, according to the webpage of the airline.

Heathrow Airport is the top destination for Turkish Airlines flights from the U.K., with 45 weekly departures from Istanbul.

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.

Airport authorities said they “expect significant disruption” over the coming days, with hundreds of flights and thousands of passengers affected.

Fire at substation causes Heathrow blackout

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. Images on social media showed huge flames and smoke rising from the substation.

Other videos, apparently shot inside Heathrow’s terminals, showed shuttered shops and deserted corridors, lit only by emergency lighting.

“The fire has caused a power outage affecting a large number of homes and local businesses, and we are working closely with our partners to minimize disruption,” said London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Pat Goulbourne. He added that the blaze was first reported at 11:23 p.m. GMT.

“This is a highly visible and significant incident, and our firefighters are working tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible,” a statement said.

British utility firm Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said on its website that an “unplanned outage” had left more than 16,000 homes without power in the area.

80 million passengers a year

Heathrow handles more than 80 million passengers a year and the operator says there are around 1,300 takeoffs or landings a day.

Seven United Airlines flights returned to their airport of origin or other airports and all Friday flights to London Heathrow are being canceled, a spokesperson said.

In Sydney, Qantas said two flights en route to Heathrow—a non-stop flight from Perth and another via Singapore—had both diverted to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport. It said two other flights scheduled to fly out of London on Friday were likely to be impacted.

In January, the government gave permission for Heathrow to build a third runway—which could be ready by 2030—after years of legal wrangling brought on by complaints from local residents.

Five major airports serve the capital and towns nearby, but capacity is stretched, especially at Heathrow whose two runways each measure almost 4 kilometers (2.48 miles) in length, while the airport covers a total area of 12.3 square kilometers (4.74 square miles).

It opened in 1946 as London Airport before being renamed Heathrow, a hamlet demolished two years earlier to make way for the construction.

Situated 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of central London, the present Heathrow serves 200 destinations in more than 80 countries, with passengers having access to four terminals.

Among its main flight destinations last year were Dublin, Los Angeles, Madrid and New York.