Flights resume at Heathrow - but passengers warned of further delays

Flights have begun landing at Heathrow as it aims to return to normal operation on Saturday (23rd March) after the airport was shut after losing power following a major fire at an electricity substation.

Flights resumed at the west London airport on Friday evening following 14 hours of closure.

The Metropolitan Police are not treating the incident as suspicious and the London Fire Brigade's investigation is focusing on the electrical distribution equipment.

Heathrow Airport's chief executive Thomas Woldbye told reporters on Friday afternoon: "We expect to be back in full operation (tomorrow), so 100% operation as a normal day.

"(Passengers) should come to the airport as they normally would. There's no reason to come earlier."

According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, British Airways (BA) flight BA56 from Johannesburg, South Africa was the first regular passenger flight to land at Heathrow since Thursday evening, touching down at 4.37am.

Statement from British Airways

BA, which has a major presence at Heathrow, said it expects to operate around 85% of its scheduled flights at the airport on Saturday.

The airline would usually expect to run nearly 600 departures and arrivals on Saturday but it is understood cancellations will be made, where possible, to high-frequency routes.

A spokesman said: "We are planning to operate as many flights as possible to and from Heathrow on Saturday, but to recover an operation of our size after such a significant incident is extremely complex.

"We expect around 85% of our Saturday Heathrow schedule to run, but it is likely that all travelling customers will experience delays as we continue to navigate the challenges posed by Friday's power outage at the airport."

Met Police: there remains no indication of any foul play.

Counter-terrorism officers from the Metropolitan Police have been leading the investigation into the cause of the fire, which did not result in any casualties at the scene.

Commander Simon Messinger who is leading the Met Police response to the incident said:

"We continue to work with various partners in response to the serious fire at an electricity sub-station in Hayes in the early hours of this morning (Friday, 21 March).

“A number of local officers have been deployed to the area to provide support, help and advice to local residents and businesses and help keep the local community safe.

“In addition to this, the investigation into the cause of the fire remains in its early stages. After initial assessment, we are not treating this incident as suspicious, although enquiries do remain ongoing.

“Due to the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command are leading our enquiries into this matter.

“This is due to the specialist resources and capabilities within that command that can assist in progressing this investigation at pace and to help minimise disruption and identify the cause.

“Officers are working closely with a number of local partners, including the London Fire Brigade, National Grid and SSEN to build a picture of the circumstances surrounding the fire.

“Various specialist investigators continue to examine the scene and it is expected to take some time before full assessments can be completed.

“Officers will continue to work alongside colleagues on the investigation, but as we have stated above, at this stage, there remains no indication of any foul play.

Apology from airport's chief executive

Of the power outage, Heathrow Airport's chief executive Thomas Woldbye said a back-up transformer failed, meaning systems had to be closed down in accordance with safety procedures so that power supplies could be restructured from two remaining substations to restore enough electricity to power what is described as a "mid-sized city".

He apologised to stranded passengers and defended the airport's response to the situation, saying the incident is as "as big as it gets for our airport" and that "we cannot guard ourselves 100%".

After announcing early on Friday that it would be closed until 11.59pm, Heathrow later reopened with a focus on repatriation flights for passengers diverted to other airports in Europe.

Following that announcement, several airlines said they would restart scheduled flights both to and from Heathrow, including British Airways, Air Canada and United Airlines.

A BA flight to Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, took off just before 9pm after a slight delay to its expected departure time.

Around 200,000 passengers have been affected by the closure of what is Europe's busiest airport.

Thousands of homes were left without power and more than 100 people were evacuated after a transformer within the substation caught fire.

Heathrow is Europe's largest airport, with more than 83.9 million passengers travelling through its terminals in 2024.

This is believed to be the worst disruption at Heathrow since December 2010, when thousands of Christmas getaway passengers camped in the terminals because of widespread cancellations caused by snow.

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