A 'few flights' to leave Heathrow tonight as 200,000 passengers are affected by 'unprecedented' shutdown

Heathrow Airport will reopen for a limited number of flights today, after a large fire at a nearby electrical substation disrupted travel for around 200,000 passengers.

Counter-terror police are among the agencies that have been investigating the cause of the blaze, which triggered a “significant power outage” that led to more than 1,000 flights to and from the airport being cancelled.

The Met Police said on Friday evening that the cause of fire is believed to be non-suspicious.

National Grid said an “interim solution” had been found to restore supplies to customers including Heathrow Airport.

Follow live updates on Heathrow closure

Just after 4pm, a Heathrow spokesperson said the airport was “safely able to begin some flights later today”.

The first flights will be repatriation flights and relocating aircraft, with Heathrow working with airlines to bring back the passengers diverted to other airports across Europe.

“We hope to run a full operation tomorrow and will provide further information shortly,” the spokesperson added.

“Our priority remains the safety of our passengers and those working at the airport. As the busiest airport in Europe, Heathrow uses as much energy as a small city, therefore getting back to a full and safe operation takes time. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident.”

The first flight to land at Heathrow since the closure touched down just after 6pm.

The British Airways BAW35JG flight arrived from Gatwick Airport.

Meanwhile, British Airways said eight long-haul flights will depart from Heathrow from 7pm, with the airline “urgently contacting customers” to tell them to come to the airport.

The only customers who should make their way to Heathrow Airport are those booked onto the following flights: BA055 to Johannesburg, BA057 to Johannesburg, BA011 to Singapore, BA259 to Riyadh, BA045 to Cape Town, BA059 to Cape Town, BA015 to Sydney via Singapore, and BA249 to Buenos Aires via Rio de Janeiro.

Airport disruption nearly ‘as big as it gets’

Heathrow Airport’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye has told reporters the flights taking off this evening will help make sure the airport has “operations in place for tomorrow morning”.

He continued: “Tomorrow morning we expect to be back in full operation, so 100% operation as a normal day.”

Mr Woldbye added that passengers who were planning to fly from Heathrow tomorrow should come to the airport in time for their flight as normal.

The chief executive also apologised to the passengers whose journeys had been disrupted but said he would not have closed down the airport unless there were “severe safety concerns”.

Asked whether the disruption caused by the fire suggested there was a “weak point” in Heathrow’s operations, Mr Woldbye replied: “We can’t guard ourselves 100%. This has been a major incident.

“Short of anybody getting hurt, this is as big as it gets for our airport and we are actually coming back quite fast.”

He added: “This is unprecedented, it’s never happened before.”

It comes after Number 10 said earlier that there are questions to be answered about how the fire has caused so much chaos.

Mr Woldbye said: “Our procedures have worked the way they should… Of course the prime minister should ask questions and we’ll be happy to answer them.”

Earlier, the airport said it expected “significant disruption over the coming days” and warned passengers “not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens”. All trains to Heathrow were suspended.

Some power has returned to Terminal 4, with lights in the main building and lifts in the multi-storey car park operational again.

The disruption began late on Thursday night when fire crews were called to a blaze in west London at an electricity substation serving Heathrow and local properties.

Flightradar24 estimated 1,357 flights would be affected today. Around 120 flights were in the air bound for Heathrow when the airport announced it would be closing for the day. Some were turned around while others were diverted to other airports in the UK and Europe.

Heathrow shutdown: What we know so far

Fire was ‘something out of a movie’

The North Hyde substation fire has been described as “absolutely apocalyptic” by a driver who witnessed it last night.

“Billowing black smoke” covered Heathrow and lights went out along the roads in the Hounslow and Southall area, Adeel Anwar told Sky News.

“The sky was darkening and it was just a scene that was chaotic. It looked like something out of a movie.”

He said he felt the heat of the fire as he passed the substation with his window open.

Thousands of passengers stranded

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports and had a record 83.9 million passengers last year, with a plane landing or taking off around every 45 seconds.

The figure, from the Civil Aviation Authority, is equivalent to about 229,000 passengers using the hub every day.

Meanwhile, Aviation analytics firm Cirium told the New York Times that it believes as many as 290,000 passengers could be affected today – enough to fill Wembley Stadium three times.

The airport’s total closure is set to have knock-on effects on airline operations around the world for several days to come.

Passengers are stuck in “no man’s land”, according to travel expert Simon Calder. But he told Sky News airlines are “absolutely responsible” for providing a hotel, giving you meals and getting you to your destination if you’re flying on a British or European airline out of Heathrow.

Flight delayed or cancelled? What are your rights?

British Airways, the biggest carrier at Heathrow, said it is offering passengers travelling to or from Heathrow between Friday and Sunday the option to rebook their flights to a later date for free through their website.

Virgin Atlantic also said the airport’s closure “has had a significant impact on our flying programme”, adding that the rest of Friday’s schedule was under review. It advised passengers to check their website for updates.

Gatwick Airport said in a statement that it is “supporting by accepting diverted flights as required” and that it is operating “as normal today”.

National Infrastructure Commission Chair Sir John Armitt said the incident highlights a need for infrastructure operators to be fully prepared for dealing with short term shocks, particularly for failures outside their control.

“That means building resilience into all their systems, regularly stress testing, and increasing cooperation with other operators to identify risks arising from increasing interdependence,” he said.

“We’ve been clear the UK needs national resilience standards for our transport, digital, energy and water infrastructure.”

Extra services being laid on

Ryanair has launched what it is calling eight “rescue flights” on Friday and Saturday between London Stansted and Dublin. Eurostar is also adding two extra services – one each way – between London and Paris.

And easyJet is using larger-than-planned aircraft on key routes on Friday and over the weekend between the UK and Milan, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Paris, Munich and Madrid.

Counter-terror officers investigating

The Metropolitan Police declared a major incident after the fire and confirmed their Counter Terrorism Command is now leading inquiries to examine the cause of the blaze.

“While there is currently no indication of foul play we retain an open mind at this time,” the Met said in a statement.

It added that counter-terror officers were involved because of their “specialist resources and capabilities” to progress the investigation “at pace to minimise disruption and identify the cause”.

London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said the presence of counter-terrorism police should not alarm people and is not unusual.

Oil fire still alight at substation

The fire that caused the power outage is at the North Hyde substation in Hayes, about 1.5 miles to the north of the airport.

London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) deputy commissioner Jonathan Smith told reporters at a news conference the fire involved a transformer – a key part of the substation – with 25,000 litres of cooling oil “fully alight”.

Crews evacuated 29 people from neighbouring properties but there were no casualties.

In all, 67,000 households were left without power after the fire at the substation, but all supplies have been restored.

Earlier LFB said 10 engines and around 70 firefighters had been working to extinguish the blaze – with the first 999 call received at 11.23pm on Thursday.

Pictures from the scene showed large flames and plumes of thick black smoke.

The LFB said in a statement that 5% of the fire was still alight as of 7pm this evening.

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