Europe’s busiest airport, London’s Heathrow, will be closed for the entire day Friday, sparking travel chaos, after a fire at an electrical substation cut power to the area.
Heathrow advised passengers not to travel to the airport and to contact airlines for further instructions, saying in a statement on social media that no flights would be landing or taking off until at least “23h59 on 21 March.”
Around 1,300 flights arrive or depart from Heathrow each day, meaning thousands of travelers will be affected.
What happened at Heathrow airport?
A fire broke out Thursday night at an electrical substation in Nestles Avenue in Hayes, which is less than 5 kilometers from Heathrow.
Around 70 firefighters and 10 fire engines were working to douse the fire at the substation, which authorities said was under control on Friday morning. The fire caused a power outage affecting a large number of homes, local businesses and Heathrow airport.
Around 150 people were evacuated from the surrounding area and a 200-meter cordon established. The fire brigade advised local residents to keep windows and doors locked to keep smoke out of their homes.
By Friday morning, power had been restored to 62,000 customers, with 4,900 currently without electricity, the National Grid said in a statement.
Who is affected?
Heathrow is Europe’s — and the U.K.’s — busiest airport, handling over 1,300 take offs and landings a day.
According to flight tracking site Flightradar24, 1,351 flights were scheduled at Heathrow on Friday. Many of them will now either be canceled altogether, or diverted to other airports, throwing thousands of passengers’ travel plans into chaos. Heathrow also acts as a major worldwide hub for passengers flying onward to other destinations.
The Heathrow closure is likely to have knock-on effects for several days, even after the airport reopens.
Heathrow warned of “significant disruption” to travel over the coming days, and told passengers not to attempt to travel to the airport “under any circumstances” until it reopens.
Was it sabotage?
The cause of the fire is not yet known, the London Fire Brigade said in a statement.
British Energy Minister Ed Miliband told LBC Radio on Friday morning that “There’s no suggestion that there is foul play” involved.
But questions have been raised about Heathrow’s emergency preparedness and resilience.
“It’s very unusual” for an accident like this “to have such a big impact,” said Professor Zheng Lei, chair of Swinburne University’s Department of Aviation.
We “don’t really understand the details of the situation,” he said, adding he was unwilling to speculate on the cause. “But I can tell you it’s a very unusual event.”
What’s the U.K. government response?
The response to the fire will pull in multiple parts of the British state.
British Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is being updated on what she has called a “fast-moving” situation at the airport, and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has held talks with National Grid, which focuses on electricity transmission and distribution in the U.K.
“There’s obviously been a catastrophic fire at this substation, an unprecedented event actually in their experience,” Miliband told the BBC on Friday morning. “It appears to have knocked out a back-up generator as well as the substation itself. What I know is that they are working as hard as they can to restore power as well as the fire being put out.”
Miliband added on Sky: “There was a backup generator, but that was also affected by the fire, which gives a sense of how unusual or unprecedented it was. There is a third backup — a second backup if you like — which they are seeking to use to restore power. So there are back up mechanisms in place but given the scale of this fire the back up mechanisms seem to have been affected.”
Britain has dealt with similar large-scale air travel disruption before. When the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in Iceland in 2010, the resulting ash cloud caused Europe-wide travel chaos. Then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown convened the government’s emergency COBRA crisis committee, which can pull the disparate strands of the British machine together to try to coordinate a response.
Asked Friday if the government will make a similar move, Miliband said: “I’m sure the government will be convening in the most appropriate way. I’m not going to anticipate the precise form of that, but I’m already in touch with my colleagues on this issue.”
What about trade?
The disruption — especially if it goes on for days — could also have “far-reaching impacts” for international trade, according to Marco Forgione, director general of the Chartered Institute of Export and International Trade, pointing out that Heathrow is the “U.K.’s largest freight hub by value.”
“Essential goods due to be delivered and leave will now face days of disruption, and because it’s air freight a lot of the goods are time sensitive. Even once flights recommence planes, crew and products will all be in the wrong place,” he added.
Ben Farrell, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply said the disruption would take “days, if not weeks to unpick and leave goods, crew and planes out of sync.”
“Supply chains work on a just-in-time basis and the whole operation is meticulously planned to ensure goods enter and exit the country in a timely fashion,” he added.
“With diversions in place and the airport shut for at least another day we will see millions of pounds worth of goods out of place leading to added costs for businesses.”
Seb Starcevic and Karl Mathiesen contributed to this report.
This story has been updated.