Flights at London’s Heathrow Airport have resumed, with operations now fully restored following a power outage caused by a fire at an off-site substation in Hayes.
In a statement on Saturday, the airport confirmed it was “open and fully operational,” with additional staff brought in to clear the backlog of disrupted flights.
“We have added flights to today’s schedule to accommodate an extra 10,000 passengers,” the statement said, advising travellers to check with airlines for updates.
Heathrow Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye said he did not anticipate significant delays or cancellations but acknowledged airlines would need to manage stranded passengers. Apologising for the disruption, he defended the airport’s closure, explaining that the affected power substation was not part of Heathrow’s infrastructure.
The outage, which grounded flights and impacted around 200,000 travellers, was triggered by two explosions and a fire at an electrical substation in Hayes, west London, on Thursday night. The blaze also led to local evacuations and school closures.
Counter-terrorism officers from the Metropolitan Police are investigating the fire due to its impact on critical national infrastructure, though authorities have found no indication of foul play so far.
Britain’s energy regulator, Ofgem, has launched a review to determine the cause of the incident and assess potential lessons for the future.
Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, handled a record 83.9 million passengers last year. While its back-up diesel generators functioned as expected, the airport noted they were not designed to support full-scale operations.
