The Heathrow Airport in London is immersed in chaos after a fire in electric substation has excluded operations at one of the most prominent air hubs in Europe, forcing the airport to cancel or divert more than 1,000 flights on Friday and remove the global air trip line.
The Heathrow Executive Director, Thomas Woldbye, described the disorder as “unprecedented”, saying to reporters on Friday that the airport had lost power equal to that middle city, and that although the spare transformer worked, it was not enough for the entire airport.
Some flights continued late on Friday. But Mr. Woldbye said, “We expect to return to complete surgery, so a 100 -pointed surgery as a normal day” by Saturday.
Metropolitan police in London reported later on Friday: “After the initial estimate, We do not treat this incident as suspiciousalthough the tests remain ongoing. “Police said the officers of counter -tourism will be investigating the cause of flames, which broke out on Thursday night in the electric substation northeast of Heathrow.
On Friday, it was too early to calculate precise interruption costs. But the disorder was asking questions about the resistance of the largest British airport and why it seemed so much relied on one electric substation.
The residents of the Hayes neighborhood near the airport described that on Thursday night they heard two loud bursts and saw a “massive flame ball” into the sky. A few minutes later, the airport said that all air traffic excluded, and the arrival flights were diverted and passengers in Heathrow were sent home. Ordinary residents have also been evacuated.
By Friday morning, the roads around the power plant were cordonated and the helicopter hovered above. Strange peace went down to Heathrow. The runways were empty, the reports of the Silent, the Digital Flight Information Digital screens were empty, and the passages were poorly illuminated by the lighting in emergency. It was a lifeless calmness that was not seen even during the early panic weeks of coronavirus pandemic.
The British national network said on Friday afternoon that it reconfigured its network to some of the occasionally renew power in Heathrow. The tenant had 25,000 liters of cooling oil, which encouraged a large flame and made it difficult to shut down, the London Fire Brigade said on Friday. The brigade said that about 5 percent of the fire was still burning until Friday in the evening.
Airport closure resulted in dozens of flights from the United States that landed far from the original destination. Were diverted to the airports in Glasgow, Madrid and even Happy Valley-Goose BayA small town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
John Connor, 22 years, was sitting on Friday at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, waiting for him to return home to England after a backpack abroad for two years.
“We sat on the plane about five o’clock before they said the flight was canceled,” he said. “I’m trying to attract a plane somewhere near – Paris, Dublin, anywhere else,” he added. “We were told straight no.”
Angry passengers ran into social media to ask Avio -Company about managing flights canceled and upcoming departures, claim In the posts to X that airline applications laged lagging in notifying passengers on cancellation and that Customer Service could not be reached by phone.
Some passengers stuck in Europe are invited to consider traveling by rail. After learning that his flight from Heathrow was canceled, Phillip Kizun, 58, of Chester County, had had to improvise while trying to come from London to Dublin on a work trip. He drove the train to Wales and then a ferry from the Holyhead coastal city to the Irish capital. He met several European and American passengers who work the same.
“It was absolutely real” planes, trains and cars, “said Mr. Kizun, a few minutes after his arrival in Dublin, calling for Candy Comedy Steve Martin-John’s comedy.
Some aircraft had to be turned in the air. Jeannie Lachance, who traveled to London from Los Angeles with her sister and a two -year -old niece, said she had announced that she would have to come back in the pilot flight for about four hours.
“Everyone was pretty calm, which I think was nice because we were all trapped on the plane,” said Mrs. Lachance (31).
Some airlines have said they will issue renunciations that allow for free book free books including British Airways, Delta air lines,, American Airlines and United Airlines. A spokesman Delta said the airline would compensate for traveling to London travelers for passengers who were diverted to Amsterdam.
Cirium, Air Force Company, estimated that Heathrow’s closure could affect as many as 290,000 passengers.
By late Friday, several flights landed or left Heathrow, as the airport started blowing back to life, around 4 pm after the fire. The first one touched there was a British Airways plane, which traveled from Gatwick Airport in London after being diverted from its original destination, Singapore, according to Flight Flightware for Flight Monitoring.
Heathrow spokeswoman said the airport operates on the first renovation “Flights to repattenance and move the aircraft.”
The British Ministry of Transport announced that it temporarily increases restrictions on flights overnight to facilitate congestion.
But the British Airway CEO, Sean Doyle, warned that Heathrow’s closure would have a “huge impact” on the customers of the airline over the coming days. British Airways was supposed to carry out more than 670 flights that carried about 107,000 customers on Friday, and similar numbers were planned over the weekend, he added.
“We have colleagues and flight planes and cabins that are currently in locations where we have not planned to be,” he said.
Heathrow crisis is likely to be upset not only the movement of people, but also the flow of goods. Closing a key airline, even for a short time, would cause delays and logistical headaches for many companies that deliver products through Heathrow, said experts on supply chain.
Heathrow has two runways and four terminals that have more than 230 destinations in 90 countries. Last year, about 83.9 million passengers and 1.7 million tonnes of cargo exceeded the airport. It is the third largest air burden center in Western Europe, measured in the delivered metric tonnes. The goods of almost £ 200 billion ($ 258 billion) went through Heathrow 2023, about a fifth of the values of British goods trade.
“The goods are moving around the world every day in a really precise, timed way,” said Ben Farrell, Executive Director of the Chartered Institute for Procurement and Supply, a global network of professionals in a supply chain based in London. “Any disorders of any part of this lead to the effect elsewhere.”
British companies are likely to be the most affected. Global trade can be managed by other large airports in Europe, said Eytan Buchman, Chief of Marketing Director in Freightos, a digital ship market.
Mr. Woldbye, the Heathrow Heathrow CEO, apologized to the passengers for extinguishing, and said the airport continued well to continue their flights until Friday night, given the interruption scale.
The closing of the airport was followed by 15 years after one of the most severe air travel disorders, when the volcano eruption in Iceland sent ash Miles to the sky and Interfering with a trip for millionsincluding in Heathrow.
The ashes took over 100,000 flights During almost a week in April 2010, as he passed northern Europe. The losses of the airline industry from volcano disorders are estimated at $ 1.7 billion.
Reporting contributed Christine Chun,, Michael Levenson,, Michael D. Shear,, Peter Eavis,, Christopher Maag,, Ivan Penn,, Stephen Castle,, Niraj Choxshi,, CEYLAN YEğins and Claire Moses.
