KUALA LUMPUR – London’s Heathrow Airport, one of the world’s busiest, has been forced to shut down for the entire day on Friday following a major power outage caused by a fire at a nearby electrical substation.
The closure, which will last until 11.59pm on March 21 (local time) or 7.59am on March 22 (Malaysian time), is expected to cause widespread disruption for travellers.
With Heathrow handling around 1,300 take-offs and landings daily, the shutdown has caused severe travel disruptions. A statement from the airport advised passengers not to come to the terminals.
“To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23:59 on 21 March.”
According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, at the time of the closure announcement, around 120 flights were in the air en route to Heathrow. Many were either diverted to other airports or forced to return to their departure locations.
Scoop’s checks on Heathrow’s website found that a Malaysia Airlines flight scheduled to take off at 10.25am London time (6.45pm Malaysian time) and 9.25pm (5.25am tomorrow Malaysian time) is still marked as “on time”.
The site also listed multiple flight cancellations, with some still marked as “expected” despite the ongoing shutdown. Scoop has reached out to Malaysia Airlines to confirm the status of its flights.
The fire broke out late Thursday night in Hayes, west London, and has affected Heathrow’s power supply, leaving parts of the airport in darkness. According to the London Fire Brigade (LFB), a transformer within an electrical substation was alight, prompting emergency services to be called at 11.23pm local time.
The blaze led to the evacuation of around 150 people from nearby properties, and authorities set up a 200m cordon as a precaution.
LFB Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne described the situation as a “highly visible and significant incident.”
“Our firefighters are working tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible,” he said in a statement.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), which supplies power to the area, confirmed that more than 16,000 homes had been affected by the outage.
“We’re aware of a widespread power cut affecting many of our customers around the Hayes, Hounslow, and surrounding areas,” the company said in a statement on X.
Passengers scheduled to travel through Heathrow are advised to check with their airlines, as significant disruption is likely to continue even after power is restored. Emergency crews remain at the scene, and authorities have yet to determine the cause of the fire. – March 21, 2025