The British Airways crew will arrive at Terminal 5 in Heathrow on March 21, 2025 in London, England.
Peter Nichols | Getty Images
London’s Heathrow Airport reopened on Saturday, but travelers are warned that they are significantly delayed as airlines are rushing to reopen flights and return stuck passengers.
According to Flight-Tracking site FlightAware, Europe’s busiest airport was closed most Friday after a blackout after a fire at a nearby current substation.
However, the first flight took off from the airport later in local time, with the airport departure committee showing that the majority of the flights are scheduled to run as scheduled on Saturday.
“Flights have resumed at Heathrow following the blackout yesterday,” the airport said on its website on Saturday.
“If you are planning to travel today, we recommend contacting the airline for the latest flight information before heading to the airport. We apologise for the confusion and thank you for your patience while operations return to normal.”
National Grid said on Saturday that power will be restored to all customers, including Heathrow, and businesses will be able to resume.
“We are currently implementing measures to further improve the resilience level of our network,” the utility company said in a statement.
“We are extremely sorry for the confusion that has occurred and continue to work closely with the government, Heathrow and the police to understand the cause of the incident.”
London Metropolitan Police said there were “no indications of a foul play,” but the counter-terrorism department would now lead to an investigation into the fire.
“Given the location of the substation and the impact that this incident had on important national infrastructure, Met’s counterterrorism command is currently a leading investigation,” the force said in a post in X.
“Hope for a delay”
The airline is rushing to resume flights and bring thousands of passengers to their final destinations.
British Airways is the airline that has been the most affected by the incident, with more than half of its Friday schedule being cancelled. He hopes to run a large portion of the Heathrow schedule on Saturday, but the customer said they should expect delays.
Ground crews load cargo onto airline planes such as Luftanza Group, Emirates, Austrian Airlines and British Airways, and park on September 11, 2023 at Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in El Segundo, California.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
“We expect that around 85% of the Heathrow Schedule on Saturday, March 22nd will run as planned, but it is very complicated to recover operations on our scale, so customers may experience delays,” the airline said in a statement on Saturday.
“We advise customers to travel to the airport as usual unless otherwise noted. If your flight is confused, we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know what you need to do.”
It added that it offers a “flexible option” and allows you to travel from Heathrow this weekend, allowing you to rebook another date for free.
Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic said it also plans to run a “nearly full schedule with limited cancellations” on Saturday.
Heathrow Airport has 1,300 takeoffs and landings at the airport per day, according to its website. Last year it handled a record 83.9 million passengers. This has increased almost 6% since 2023.
The incident raises questions about the airport’s reliance on a single power source.
Willie Walsh – Former CEO of British Airways IAG And now the CEO of IATA, an industrial group in the aviation industry, criticised Heathrow Airport for “a total plan failure,” questioning who would cover the costs of the resulting disruption.
“We need to find a fair allocation of passenger care costs rather than just airlines picking up tabs when infrastructure fails,” he said. “Until that happens, Heathrow has very little incentive to improve.”
