Global Travel Chaos as Heathrow Airport Shuts Down Due to Power Outage
Global Travel Chaos as Heathrow Airport Shuts Down Due to Power Outage
London’s Heathrow Airport has announced a complete shutdown because of a power outage due to a large fire nearby, causing massive disruption to one of the world’s busiest travel hubs.
Heathrow’s closure is expected to affect more than 1,300 flights. An airline analytics firm estimated that “upwards of 145,000” passengers could be impacted, and Heathrow is warning of significant disruption in the coming days. Trains around the airport have also been disrupted.
BREAKING: INFERNO SHUTS DOWN HEATHROW—UK IN TRAVEL CHAOS!
A massive fire has ripped through an electrical substation in West London, plunging over 16,000 homes and businesses into darkness—and bringing Heathrow Airport to a complete standstill.
ALL FLIGHTS CANCELLED… pic.twitter.com/cGwAWrMT0r
— Jim Ferguson (@JimFergusonUK) March 21, 2025
A lot of flights were already in the air and some had made significant progress in their journeys towards Heathrow when the disruption began.
Flights to Heathrow diverted
As a result, a number of flights have been diverted to airports around the world, according to the website Flightradar24.
Passengers on a flight from Bangkok were among those diverted to Brussels, and some, including passengers on a flight from New York City, have been diverted to Iceland, according to the flight tracking website.
A flight from Boston was diverted to Goose Bay Airport in Canada, and a flight out of New York City made it two hours and forty minutes into its journey before being turned around and sent back to JFK.
Heathrow-bound flights have also been diverted to airports in Ireland, Cardiff, and Manchester, as well as Munich, Frankfurt, Madrid and beyond.
Many of the diverted flights would likely be coming from Asia and the Pacific, aviation analyst Shukor Yusof told CNN, because their long-haul routes mean they would have taken off before the closure and would not have the option to turn back.
Pilots would likely be informed about the airport shutdown midair by the airline’s operations team, who would be in close coordination with Britain’s aviation authority to determine a location for the aircraft to land, Yusof said.
“It requires a lot of coordination between the UK authority and the airline coming to land,” he said, adding long-haul flights present “a more complex challenge” for rerouting.
Heathrow’s backup power supply was also affected by the fire, Britain’s energy secretary said. He said it was too soon to say if the incident showed anything about the safety of critical infrastructure in Britain.
Scotland fans stranded in Athens
The large blaze near Heathrow will be a “prolonged incident” with disruption for residents in the area expected to increase, according to the London Fire Brigade. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, it said.
The UK’s energy minister Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said there was “no suggestion” of foul play. “We don’t know the cause of this fire. It’s obviously an unprecedented event,” he said.
Hundreds of Scotland fans have been stranded in Athens due to the lockdown at Heathrow. They had traveled to Greece for the UEFA Nations League playoff game but they were forced to spend the day at the Greek capital’s airport.