A fire at an electrical substation serving Heathrow Airport triggered a widespread power outage Friday, forcing London's largest airport to shut down operations and grounding more than 1,350 flights. The disruption is reverberating across the global aviation industry, with analysts projecting financial losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, said it would remain closed through at least the end of Friday. In a statement, the airport described the incident as a "significant power outage" and warned that it expects "significant disruption over the coming days."
Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 reported that flights scheduled to arrive at or depart from Heathrow have been severely affected. Airlines including British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, and Air India have either canceled or diverted flights.
Counter-terrorism officers from London's Metropolitan Police are also investigating the cause of the fire "as a precautionary measure," though authorities have not indicated any evidence of foul play.
British Airways, which operates the majority of flights from Heathrow, said it was redirecting inbound flights to other UK airports. "This will clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers, and we're working as quickly as possible to update them on their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond," the airline said in a statement.
Shares of airline operators fell sharply in early trading. International Airlines Group, British Airways' parent, sank as much as 5% in London before recovering slightly, ending down 1.1%. Lufthansa shares dropped 1.6%, Air France-KLM fell 1.5%, and Australia's Qantas closed 2.4% lower.
Singapore Airlines confirmed that three flights en route to Heathrow had been diverted to Frankfurt or Paris, while others returned to Singapore. Qantas also reported diverting flights from Singapore and Perth to Paris. Air India announced via X that all Heathrow operations on Friday were canceled.
Virgin Atlantic canceled all flights arriving at and departing from Heathrow until midday Friday, while United Airlines canceled Friday's Heathrow-bound flights, diverting seven flights back to their points of origin or to alternate airports.
Shukor Yusof, founder of Singapore-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics, warned that the financial fallout could be substantial. The fallout "will cause chaos, undoubtedly, for the weekend and into next week because they have to resolve all those flights that couldn't come in, all those problems that have piled up because of this shutdown, Yusof told CNN.
Heathrow processed a record 83.9 million passengers in 2023, ranking as the fourth-busiest airport globally. The shutdown's ripple effect threatens not only airline profitability but also the broader economy surrounding the airport. It's a "whole network of people involved," Yusof said, referencing airport retailers, fuel suppliers, cargo firms, and local communities reliant on Heathrow's operations.
According to National Grid U.K., approximately 5,000 customers in the Heathrow area were also affected by the outage.
Airline compensation to travelers is expected to be one of the largest immediate costs, according to analysts at investment bank Jefferies.
