UK orders investigation after Heathrow airport shutdown

London Heathrow Airport shall be closed all day Friday, March 21, after a fireplace brought about a “significant” energy outage. (CREDIT: Sergio Vilelas by way of Storyful)

Britain’s authorities and London’s Heathrow Airport have ordered seems to be into the dealing with of an influence outage that shuttered Europe’s busiest air hub for nearly a day as airways warned of additional delays and cancelations.

Britain’s power ministry stated on Saturday it had commissioned the Nationwide Power System Operator to hold out an pressing investigation into the outage that raised questions in regards to the resilience of the nation’s crucial infrastructure, Reuters reported.

Heathrow stated it had tasked an impartial board member, former transport minister Ruth Kelly, with endeavor a overview of the airport’s crisis-management plan and its response to the incident with the goal of boosting resilience.

The airport stated on X Sunday that it’s “operating a full schedule again today, with over 1,300 flights planned,” however airways are scrambling to make up for misplaced time. 

AIRLINES ISSUE TRAVEL WAIVERS DUE TO LONDON’S HEATHROW AIRPORT SHUTDOWN

Members of the Fireplace Brigade attend the scene following a serious fireplace at {an electrical} substation at Heathrow on March 21, 2025 in London, England. (Leon Neal / Getty Pictures)

“Thank you for your patience following Friday’s closure due to an off-site power substation fire,” the submit stated. 

British Airways, whose primary hub is Heathrow, promised a “near-full” schedule for Sunday after chief government Sean Doyle on Friday warned the “huge impact” would final days.

LONDON’S HEATHROW AIRPORT TO REOPEN AFTER FIRE CAUSES POWER OUTAGE

Britain’s Heathrow airport, Europe’s busiest, was shut down early on March 21 for twenty-four hours after a serious fireplace at an electrical energy substation reduce energy to the sprawling facility west of London, officers stated. (BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP / Getty Pictures)

Main airways are waiving fare modifications for vacationers affected by Friday’s outage at London Heathrow Airport.

The airport is the world’s fifth busiest, in keeping with Reuters. It was scheduled to deal with 1,351 flights on Friday involving 291,000 passengers. Nevertheless, the hearth at a close-by electrical substation pressured planes to be diverted to different airports and plenty of long-haul flights returned to the place they’d departed from. 

A hearth on the North Hyde Electrical energy Substation in Hayes prompted a large energy outage at London’s Heathrow Airport. (London Fireplace Brigade/Reuters / Reuters)

Police stated that after an preliminary evaluation they weren’t treating the incident as suspicious, though the investigation stays ongoing. 

London Fireplace Brigade stated its investigations would deal with {the electrical} distribution gear. Roughly 70 firefighters and 10 engines responded to the hearth simply earlier than midnight on Thursday on the electrical substation on Nestles Avenue in Hayes.

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“This was a very visible and significant incident, and our firefighters worked tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible,” Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne stated in a press release.

FOX Enterprise’ Elizabeth Pritchett, Greg Norman, Daniella Genovese and Reuters contributed to this report.