HEATHROW Airport has been shut down for the entire day as devastated passengers are issued a “do not travel” warning.
A blaze broke out at an electrical station on Nestles Avenue, in Hayes, West London, at around 11pm last night and sparked a major power outage. The power outage at the electrical station has since closed the busiest airport in Europe until 11.59pm today – causing travel chaos and leaving thousands stranded.
A driver who witnessed the inferno, and its shocking aftermath, described it as “absolutely apocalyptic”.
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 could feel heat emanating from the blaze with his window down. “I tried to just get out of the area as quickly as possible. I was not messing around there,” added Adeel.
“You have to make a split decision. I’m not stopping to look around at something that is massive in size and just billowing black smoke.”
Flights across Europe have since had to be diverted to alternative airports or return to their original destination.
In total, the closure is expected to impact more than 2,000 flights, according to Cirium. At present 120 planes already circulating Heathrow airspace are being diverted or turned around.
Passengers from across the globe, from San Francisco to Australia have been impacted, with around 2,000 flights to and from Heathrow set to be affected.
The airport was set to welcome 665 departures today, which is around 145,094 seats.
A further 669 flights were also due to arrive today, equating to 145,836 seats.
In total the airport was expected to see over 2,000 scheduled flights today, flying up 291,000 passengers.
British Airways has the largest share of flights from the airport, 51 per cent, followed by Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa.
Rail services to and from Heathrow – which more than 200,000 people travel through every day – have also been cancelled today, National Rail said. It comes as thousands of homes are also without power after the blaze broke out at a substation in Hayes, West London, shortly after 11pm on Thursday.
An aviation expert compared the global disruption to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US in 2001.
John Strickland, an aviation consultant, told the Tele: “It’s a contained version of 9/11 or, to an extent, the Icelandic volcanic eruption.
“I remembered seeing on those occasions – particularly more so on 9/11 – it happened so quick and then US airspace was closed, they were turning back aircraft and holding planes.
“That’s the parallel I would make.”
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Heathrow has said: “Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage across the airport due to a large fire at a nearby electrical substation.
“Whilst fire crews are responding to the incident, we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored. “To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 11.59pm on March 21.
“We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.”
A statement adds: “Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience.” The carnage continues this morning as photographs show bumper-to-bumper traffic building around the airport.
Weary travellers reported being told their holiday had been scrapped less than an hour before departure.
Devastated holidaymakers have been waiting with suitcases outside terminals after being turned away.
Shocking footage has also revealed the extent of damage caused by the blaze.
Fire crews remain at the scene, on Nestles Avenue in Hayes, this morning and continue to douse the area with water. White smoke can still be seen rising from the scorched wreckage.
London Fire Brigade reported 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters arrived just before 6am with part of a transformer still on fire.
The fire brigade evacuated 29 people nearby and another 150 people from a 200-metre precautionary cordon around the site.
A National Grid spokesperson said the fire damaged equipment and crews were “working at speed to restore power supplies as quickly as possible”.
The fire was brought under control at around 8am. Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband told BBC Breakfast: “My understanding from the grid is 100,000 homes were without power as a result of this fire overnight.
“The figure they gave to me a short time ago was that that’s down now to 4,000.
“But, obviously, this is a fast-moving situation and we will be doing everything we can to work with grid on the work they’re doing to restore power.”
Asked how the fire was able to disrupt the UK’s busiest airport, Mr Miliband added: “We don’t know the cause of this fire. It’s obviously an unprecedented event.
“But I think what you’re right to say is we will want to understand both the causes of this event and what lessons, if any, it can teach us.” The Energy Secretary also told LBC there is “no suggestion of foul play” in the fire.
He said: “We’ve got to get power restored as quickly as possible and Heathrow opened as quickly as possible.
“But the truth it’s going to take time to unwind the disruption for obvious reasons.
“There’s no suggestion there is any foul play.”
Mr Miliband said it is more likely to be a “catastrophic accident.”
It comes as FlightRadar24 shows aircraft being diverted to a range of airports including those in Germany, France, Ireland and Manchester.
The diversions include one flight from London to Bangkok which reached Brussels before having to return to Heathrow.
Flights from Johannesburg and Perth into the capital are also having to land at Gatwick Airport.
Ladelle Hash, 47, organiser of a group of 31 New Mexico tourists, is trying to get home after a week in Scotland.
She said: ”We got on our coach at around 4 o’clock this morning to get to the airport three hours early. As we were gathering our bags, we found out that Heathrow was closing.
”We’ve just been waiting – I’m trying to reroute us.
”One of my travellers that was going to another state has been booked, but she’s going through Rome now.
“She’s getting over to Rome, before going to Philadelphia and then to Chicago – she’s going to be all over the place.
”I’m just hoping that they’ll get us flown to another big city by this afternoon – hopefully Dublin or Paris, so we can still get home, just a bit later than we’d hoped.”
Neil Hansford, head of the Sydney-based Strategic Aviation Solutions consultancy, told The Guardian the fire has triggered a “logistical nightmare”.
Surrounding London airports such as Gatwick and Stansted would be unable to manage all of Heathrow’s diverted flights.
“These airports can’t take anything close to the volume of Heathrow’s five terminals, where there’s an arrival every minute,” said Hansford.
And travel experts say fall out from the disruption will be felt internationally.
“The other question is, ‘What will airlines do to deal with the backlog of passengers?’”, travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt with Atmosphere Research Group told the Tele.
“It’s going to be a chaotic couple of days.”
A departure board in Singapore Changi Airport displayed an Air Portugal flight to London Heathrow as cancelled this morning.
Air India also announced its Heathrow-bound flight number AI129 from Mumbai is returning to Mumbai and flight AI161 from Delhi is being diverted to Frankfurt.
“All our remaining flights to and from London Heathrow, including AI111 of this morning, have been cancelled for 21 March,” the airline has said in a statement.
“We will update about resumption of operations as soon as we have more information. Flights to London Gatwick remain unaffected.”
Meanwhile, in the UK, Gatwick has taken on some of the diverted flights this morning.
Flights from Singapore, Johannesburg, Lagos, Cape Town and Doha were redirected.
A statement from a London Gatwick spokesperson said: “We are aware of the situation at Heathrow Airport today and we are supporting by accepting diverted flights as required. Flights are operating from London Gatwick as normal today.”
Birmingham Airport also said it was accepting diverted flights, a spokesman said: “There will be no delays to Birmingham Airport’s own customers, due to any diverted Heathrow aircraft into BHX.
“Airports regularly take diverts as part of normal operations, and flights inbound to London Heathrow will use multiple airports around the UK, and Ireland, or alternatively may return to their departure airport.
“We will assist with landing any diverted aircraft during the Heathrow closure today and work with those LHR airlines to repatriate their customers upon arrival into Birmingham.”
At least six flights will also land at Shannon Airport in Co Clare, Ireland.
A spokesperson for the Shannon Airport Group said: “We are closely monitoring the situation at Heathrow Airport and are providing support by accommodating diverted flights as needed and our team is on-site to assist with the additional passengers.
“So far, Shannon Airport has facilitated six diverted flights originally scheduled to land at Heathrow, including flights from Toronto, Atlanta, Bridgetown Barbados, Boston, Orlando and Newark.
“The first of these flights landed safely at 4.26am this morning.”
