London's Heathrow Airport will be closed all day on Friday following a fire in an electrical substation. All Brussels Airlines' flights scheduled for Friday have been cancelled, but the UK airport said that it was able to "safely restart" flights around 17:15.
The London Fire Brigade reported a "major" fire at the Hayes electricity substation in west London, which supplies the airport. As a result, Europe's largest passenger airport was without power for most of Friday.
"Heathrow is experiencing a significant power cut. To ensure the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23:59 on 21 March (00:59 on Saturday 22 March Belgian time)," said Heathrow Airport Holdings.
On Friday, 16 flights (eight departures and eight arrivals) were scheduled between Brussels Airport and Heathrow, according to the Zaventem airport flight schedule. All of these flights – operated by Brussels Airlines and British Airways – are cancelled, a spokesperson confirmed.
Additionally, Brussels Airport also welcomed three flights on Friday morning that would normally have landed at Heathrow but were diverted. These flights were operated by Ethiopian, Qatar Airways, and Thai Airways.
The Walloon airports are not affected by the closure of London Heathrow, according to Charleroi and Liège airports.
Restarting flights
At 17:13 on Friday, Heathrow Airport announced via social media that it was able to resume operations. "Our teams have worked tirelessly since the incident to ensure a speedy recovery. We are now safely able to restart flights, prioritising repatriation and relocation of aircraft. Please do not travel to the airport unless your airline has advised you to do so."
"We hope to run a full operation tomorrow and will provide further information shortly. Our priority remains the safety of our passengers and those working at the airport. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident," they added.
"We will now work with the airlines on repatriating the passengers who were diverted to other airports in Europe. We hope to run a full operation tomorrow and will provide further information shortly," the airport said in a statement to BBC.
In response to the disruption of Friday, the Eurostar high-speed train operator added extra trains between London and Paris to support affected travellers. "If you are booked to travel, please ensure that you arrive at the station at the recommended time stated on your ticket. Our stations will be busy, and you will need to allow enough time for ticket, security and passport checks before boarding your train."
Counter-terrorism investigation
The London Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism Unit has been tasked with investigating the fire at an electrical transformer substation. "Given the location of the substation and the impact this incident had on critical national infrastructure, the Met's Counter-Terrorism Command is now leading the investigation."
However, the police have "no indication" that it concerned an "intentional act," they said in a statement on Friday. "We are keeping an open mind at this stage." The Counter-Terrorism Unit has resources that allow it to progress the investigation quickly "to minimise disruption and identify the cause."
In the meantime, the London Fire Brigade announced that the fire at an electrical substation was under control. "We have successfully contained the fire and prevented it from spreading further," fire brigade spokesperson Pat Goulbourne said in a statement. "We will remain on the scene throughout the day to assist (the electricity network operator) National Grid."
In addition to the airport, "a large number of homes and local businesses" are affected, said Goulbourne. "Our firefighters are working tirelessly in difficult conditions to bring the fire under control as quickly as possible."
Heathrow Airport is the largest in Europe and ranks among the five busiest in the world, handling more than 80 million passengers annually, or some 230,000 per day. It serves 80 countries and some 1,350 planes were due to land or take off there on Friday, according to the Flightradar24 website
Among the flights disrupted were a Qantas flight from Perth (Australia), diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle, and a United Airlines flight from New York, which will land in Shannon (Ireland), according to FlightRadar24.
'Failure'
The Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Willie Walsh, on Friday cited "failures" at London Heathrow Airport. "Firstly, how is it that critical infrastructure – of national and global importance – is totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative?"
"If that is the case – as it seems – then it is a clear planning failure by the airport," Walsh said on social media. "And, from that arises the question of who bears the costs of taking care of disrupted travellers? We must find a fairer allocation of passenger care costs than airlines alone picking up the tab when infrastructure fails. Until that happens, Heathrow has very little incentive to improve."
The cost of Heathrow's closure to the airport and airlines will "certainly exceed £50 million (€59 million)," estimated aviation consultant Philip Butterworth-Hayes.
