Skip to main content

Heathrow resumes operations as global airlines scramble after shutdown

London’s Heathrow Airport resumed full operations on Saturday, a day after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut Europe’s busiest airport, causing global travel chaos.

The travel industry was scrambling to reroute passengers and fix battered airline schedules after the huge fire at an electrical substation serving the airport.

Some flights had resumed on Friday evening, but the shuttering of the world’s fifth-busiest airport for most of the day left tens of thousands searching for scarce hotel rooms and replacement seats while airlines tried to return jets and crew to bases.

Teams were working across the airport to support passengers affected by the outage, a Heathrow spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“We have hundreds of additional colleagues on hand in our terminals and we have added flights to today’s schedule to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers travelling through the airport,” the spokesperson said.

The travel industry, facing the prospect of a financial hit costing tens of millions of pounds and a likely fight over who should pay, questioned how such crucial infrastructure could fail without backup.

“It is a clear planning failure by the airport,” said Willie Walsh, head of global airlines body IATA, who, as former head of British Airways, has for years been a fierce critic of the crowded hub.

The airport had been due to handle 1,351 flights on Friday, flying up to 291,000 passengers, but planes were diverted to other airports in Britain and across Europe, while many long-haul flights returned to their point of departure.

Heathrow Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye said he expected the airport to be back “in full operation” on Saturday.

Asked who would pay for the disruption, he said there were “procedures in place”, adding “we don’t have liabilities in place for incidents like this”.

Restrictions on overnight flights were temporarily lifted by Britain’s Department of Transport to ease congestion, but British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle said the closure was set to have a “huge impact on all of our customers flying with us over the coming days.”

Virgin Atlantic said it expected to operate “a near full schedule” with limited cancellations on Saturday but that the situation remained dynamic and all flights would be kept under continuous review.

Airlines including JetBlue, American Airlines, Air Canada, Air India, Delta Air Lines, Qantas, United Airlines, British Airways and Virgin were diverted or returned to their origin airports in the wake of the closure, according to data from flight analytics firm Cirium.

Shares in many airlines fell on Friday.

Aviation experts said the last time European airports experienced disruption on such a large scale was the 2010 Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that grounded some 100,000 flights.

They warned that some passengers forced to land in Europe may have to stay in transit lounges if they lack the paperwork to leave the airport.

Prices at hotels around Heathrow jumped, with booking sites offering rooms for 500 pounds ($645), roughly five times the normal price levels.

Police said after an initial assessment, they were not treating the incident at the power substation as suspicious, although enquiries remained ongoing. London Fire Brigade said its investigations would focus on the electrical distribution equipment.

Heathrow and London’s other major airports have been hit by other outages in recent years, most recently by an automated gate failure and an air traffic system meltdown, both in 2023.



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/rhW3YRm

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani skipping home run derby

Baseball’s biggest star is skipping the home run derby. Shohei Ohtani confirmed after Tuesday’s win over the Diamondbacks that he will not be participating as he continues to rehab an elbow injury that has prevented him from pitching this season. “There’s been some conversations going on,” Ohtani said, according to Juan Toribio of MLB.com . “I’m in the middle of my rehab progression, so it’s not going to look like I’ll be participating.” Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani and the club reached the decision together. Ohtani signed a historic 10-year, $700-million contract with the Dodgers after winning his second AL MVP award last season with the Angels. Despite his elbow injury, he has served as the Dodgers’ primary DH this season and been one of the most productive hitters in baseball. Ohtani entered Tuesday hitting .316/.399/.635 with a 1.034 OPS. He hit his NL-leading 27th home run in the win. Ohtani had previously participated in the Derby in 2021. Last season’s champion, Vlad...

Pakistan flag installed at UNSC as country becomes non-permanent member for 8th time

The Pakistani national flag was installed in front of the United Nations Security Council chamber, as the country began its eighth term as a non-permanent member (2025-26) of the 15-member body, according to a press release issued by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations on Thursday. Pakistan on Wednesday began a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Elected in June to replace Japan, Pakistan now occupies one of the two Asia-Pacific seats on the UNSC. It will preside over the council in July, a key opportunity to set the agenda and foster dialogue. View this post on Instagram This marks Pakistan’s eighth term on the council, providing an opportunity to shape discussions on pivotal international issues, but also posing significant challenges. “As part of the joining ceremony, flags of the five new incoming non-permanent members — Pakistan, Denmark, Greece, Panam...