Heathrow Airport closed all day Friday 21 March 2025

Heathrow closed due to an electrical fire at Hayes. which is still burning at the moment. Total closedown of airport. Do not go there , you will be turned back in any case. It will be closed all day and I do not think it has a chance of opening tomorrow.

So, not only is Heathrow shut, this will mean a major problem for every airport, so if you are planning on travelling or expecting visitors there will be delays and changes. On top of the problems caused by Heathrow, the next problem for all airlines, will be that aircraft will now be diverted to other airports or have to return to original departure airport. So it will mean that all schedules will be disrupted as pilots and crews will be out of hours, planes will not be where they should be and so even when heathrow is up again many planes and crews will be in the wrong place, which will take a very long time for operations of each airline at any airport will have to sort this out. So if you have any plans to go by plane today, or have people coming to you via air , you will need to let them know the situation. (Used to be in charge of communications for an operational office )

BBC are reporting 1300 flights cancelled in and out today - plus the knock on effects. What a nightmare!

Is an electricity substation on fire so many homes and businesses in the area also without power.

AS and wife are due into Heathrow tomorrow, they are waiting to hear from airline…

Must admit I'm right off the idea of flying anyway these days. 1. The pilots have all had That Jab - so I'm concerned in case they have a "sudden death" from heart attack (though I think there's a back-up pilot there???). 2. All the seat arguments that break out so frequently on planes 3. A noticeable number of planes crashing recently

....and now this....

Did feel a lot easier to catch a plane years back - when all I had to bother about was that the plane wasn't flying over anywhere populated at night (yep...I have a conscience).....and the time when someone very "generously proportioned" sat in the seat in front of me and kept trying to sit back (ie trying to push the back of her seat back into my already tiny legspace - wasnt gonna happen....).

It means the skies will be silent around my area and no contrails today will take me back to Covid days. What a shame for many thousands of travellers who will be disrupted.

Put your tin hat on now have you @Cariad?!

I landed in Manchester 1.5 hours ago....we circled the airport for 20 mins before landing due to the extra flights landing there already this morning

The knock on effect could last for days.

Planes will not be in the correct place to pick up on their schedules easily.

AS and his wife are hoping to get as far as Abu Dhabi and then envisage a long wait.

Flights from Australia have been diverted to Paris. Then transport to the UK. Very,very tiring after that long flight.

What caused the fire, do they know ? It looked very big.

It's going to be chaos. I'm sorry for everyone concerned.

That must be a nightmare for airlines, especially on a Friday.

My DD is on a flight now to Manchester Airport. I hope all is well when she arrives as I know planes are being diverted.

My son who is on holiday far, far away isn’t in the least bit worried about his return ✈️ to Heathrow.
“That’s a problem for Sunday mum 😄 “

Oh to be so chilled.

It seems counter-terrorism officers are on the scene a lot of people have no power over a wide area luckily mine is ok.

Thanks for starting the thread infoman and for the detailed post, madeleine45.

Not expecting family just yet so I hope all will e sorted before they arrive.
It just goes to show what chaos can be caused around the world if there is one emergency such as this fire at a substation.

International Air Transport Association, the trade association for airlines, said it would be a “clear planning failure” if Heathrow turned out to be “dependent on a single power source without an alternative.”

I was surprised that Heathrow Airport does not have a backup power supply, or indeed, its own substation.

tanith

It seems counter-terrorism officers are on the scene a lot of people have no power over a wide area luckily mine is ok.

Obviously their first thought was the same as mine then, ie "Who dun it?" Especially considering how many one-off vehicles causing a bad incident crashing into people there have been recently - even if only some of them have been calling for "Alans Snackbar" at the time...

The backup generator has also been affected by fire Allira according to Sky News, not a very clever location then

It's all deeply suspicious

Putin? Just because he can, as in Germany recently?
🤔

Jaxjacky

The backup generator has also been affected by fire Allira according to Sky News, not a very clever location then

Oh!

You'd think it would be guarded 24/7

That said, I have a friend whose son lives in West London. 2 months ago they had a power surge that blew up the TV, coffee maker, fuse box and would have killed the laptops had they been plugged in.

The emergency electrician said "yeah it’s happening everywhere, the grid is maxxed out in west london. Fast charging EVs in Richmond, data centres on the M4, Heathrow - it cant cope"

🤷‍♀️