Britain’s busiest airport, Heathrow, suffered a massive power outage after a fire broke out at a nearby electrical substation in West London. Backup generators failed to kick on, forcing the airport to shut down and resulting in the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights. The disruption sent shockwaves through global air travel. While the cause of the incident remains under investigation, UK officials have stated there is “no suggestion of foul play.”
Friday morning in London with Heathrow Airport closed. pic.twitter.com/jufFvNKr42
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) March 21, 2025
UK Energy Minister Ed Miliband confirmed that a preliminary investigation into the electrical substation fire in West London has found “no suggestion” that it was caused by foul play.
Heathrow Airport closure due to an explosion at a fire at a power station nearby last night.
Had to deploy the drone rq and capture this#hayes #fire #london #heathrow pic.twitter.com/GAsOGP1uj0
— ‘ (@zain_018) March 21, 2025
“At the moment, the focus is on restoring power. We don’t yet have a full understanding of what caused the grid failure or the fire,” Miliband told LBC Radio, adding, “There’s no suggestion of foul play—just a catastrophic accident, as far as we can tell.”
This is the sub station fire that has caused blackouts and the 24 hr closure of Heathrow airport.
200,000 passenger will be affected… carnage. pic.twitter.com/eu00kCliVl
— Adam Brooks AKA EssexPR 🇬🇧 (@EssexPR) March 21, 2025
Heathrow, which serves nearly 90 airlines—including Britain’s national carrier, British Airways—has canceled about 1,300 flights, affecting over 145,000 passengers.
London-Heathrow will be closed for ALL of Friday due to a “significant power outage” caused by a fire in an electrical substation.
There are currently 120 aircraft in the air that will be diverting to alternate airports or returning to their origins. https://t.co/TEHf2kJO23 pic.twitter.com/Lot0lsJLz8
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) March 21, 2025
Heathrow Airport was handling 83.9 million passengers last year. That gives about 220k passengers per day. pic.twitter.com/kymm3VpH6N
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) March 21, 2025
Inbound flights to Heathrow were diverted to several airports, including ones nearby, such as Gatwick, London’s second-largest airport, and Manchester. According to Flightradar24 data, some flights were rerouted to international airports in Madrid, Paris, and Ireland.
“The diverted flights were already in the air, so that’s a diminishing number,” Heathrow Airport spokesperson Michael Murphy-Pyle told CNN.
In markets, shares of European airlines fell. IAG—the parent company of British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and others—declined around 2.5%. Air France-KLM shares were also down about 2%.
LoL!
I’m looking forward to Russia being blamed for the Heathrow fire 🔥. What are you waiting for, Starmer?
— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) March 21, 2025
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