Heathrow Airport will be closed for all passengers for the whole day following a huge fire at the electrical substation supplying its power.
Travellers have been ordered not to travel to the airport, served by British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Delta Air Lines and other firms, due to the “ significant power outage”. It has happened as a result of a large blaze at North Hyde Electricity Substation, which is in Hayes, west London, following which several homes have been evacuated.
Firefighters remain at the scene at the National Grid facility, where a transformer – a device which transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another or multiple – remains alight. However, the incident has caused severe disruption for Heathrow, which says it is unclear when services will resume to normal.
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It means passengers will not fly out today and must instead await further information from the airport and their airline. More than 200,000 people travel through the airport every day and the chaos expected from the closure is set to have drawn out effects over the weekend.
In a statement, Heathrow says: “Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage. To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23:59 on 21 March. Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience.”
Elsewhere, Thousands of homes have been left without power and more than 100 people were evacuated. Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said in a post on X there was a large-scale power outage in the area impacting more than 16,300 homes. It said: “We’re aware of a widespread power cut affecting many of our customers around the Hayes, Hounslow and surrounding areas.”
The cause of the fire is unclear at this stage. The Mirror has contacted National Grid, which operates North Hyde Electricity Substation, for comment.
