Heathrow Airport is fully operational again after a fire at an off-site electrical substation caused significant disruption.
Heathrow flights resume and extra support for passengers
On Saturday morning, Heathrow confirmed that flights had resumed and that staff were supporting affected passengers.
“Flights have resumed, and we are open and fully operational,” Heathrow stated on X. “Our teams are doing everything possible to assist passengers impacted by the power outage at the off-airport substation.”
Additionally, the airport deployed more staff across terminals and added extra flights to accommodate 10,000 more passengers.
Investigation continues
The fire at the North Hyde substation led to delays on Friday. However, the UK’s National Grid has now restored power to all affected areas, allowing operations to resume at the airport.
“Power supplies have been restored to all customers connected to the North Hyde substation, including Heathrow,” the National Grid said. “We are also implementing steps to strengthen the network’s resilience.”
According to aviation analytics company Cirium, as many as 290,000 passengers were affected on Friday, with 669 flights scheduled to depart. Moreover, the disruption could impact up to 270,000 more passengers on Saturday.
Authorities are still investigating the fire, but they have confirmed it is not suspicious.
“The incident is not being treated as suspicious, although investigations continue,” said the Metropolitan Police. Due to the substation’s location and its importance to national infrastructure, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is leading the investigation.
