Heathrow Is On Fire

2025 is proving to not be a good year for air travel. On top of the numerous incidents, accidents, and deaths that have already occurred, now, one of the biggest and business airports in the world is on fire. If you think this won’t affect your flight plans, think again. With over 1,350 planes shut down for at least a day, the disruption is global as airlines scurry to find planes available for domestic flights.

The fire was at an electrical substation providing power for the airport. Officials at Heathrow say the entire airport is closed until midnight, Saturday morning. The disruption will continue for many days after that, though, hitting international travel at a time when many students are heading out on Spring Break trips, or heading home.

Flight plans are meticulously orchestrated and choreographed to make sure aircraft are in the right place at the right time. Aircraft will be parked in far-flung airports, passengers will have questions and authorities will be keen to understand the impact of the disruption. No matter how much media attention the fire gets, there will still be some who will arrive at the airport absolutely clueless about the closing, delays, and cancellations.

The BBC’s transport correspondent, Sean Dilly, writes this morning, “The term “nightmare” is too weak of a descriptor to paint a true picture of the chaos this will cause. Every type of crisis meeting you can imagine is taking place as authorities at Heathrow, and at airlines that rely on the world’s second-largest airport, work furiously to implement backup plans. There’s a contingency plan for everything, but the issue for flight planners, airlines, and airports across the UK and Europe is encapsulated by one word: capacity.”

Of course, nearby airports such as Gatwick will do their best to help. Some flights are already being diverted to Manchester. Airports on the European continent have offered to help as well. However, all of those airports, especially Gatwick, were already at capacity. Trying to add more flights by taking some from Heathrow only spreads around the bottleneck so that now almost everyone flying in or out of Europe is affected.

Flights that were already in the air are currently taking assessments as to what is best for them to do. Some may be able to turn around and go back to their departure point. Those out over the middle of the Atlantic, however, likely don’t have enough fuel for a trip back. Neither are they likely to have a lot of extra fuel to go bumping around Europe asking if anyone has room for them. Fuel is weight and most flights try to get by with as little of it as possible.

Residents who live near the airport aren’t sure when they’ll be able to return home. Most were either in bed or getting ready for it when the substation explosion rattled the foundations of homes several kilometers from the site. While the initial fire has been put out and power restored to all but about 4,900 homes, many will have to be inspected and a determination made whether it is safe for anyone to live in them at all.

Airlines that regularly fly to or through Heathrow are canceling flights. All Air India flights to Heathrow have been canceled, as have all Lufthansa Group flights to the airport. Flights to London from Madrid and Barcelona, both popular Spring Break locations, have been canceled. Qantas is diverting its flights to Paris and Thai flights are being rerouted to Brussels.

The only good news we’re getting this morning is that the substation fire does not appear to be suspicious in any way, ruling out the chance that it might have been a terrorist attack. That does nothing to get people to their destination any faster, but perhaps makes breathing a little easier knowing that there was no intention to try and kill anyone.

Regardless of whether one is traveling domestically or internationally, all airlines are recommending that passengers check with them before leaving for the airport. This mess will likely cause further delays and cancelations well into next week.