Travel expert Simon Calder said the closure of Heathrow Airport today will cause significant disruption. He highlighted the impact on hundreds of thousands of passengers whose plans will be ruined, with many cancellations and diversions across Europe, landing in places like Ireland, Iceland, France, and Germany.
This follows a power outage caused by a fire at an electrical substation near Heathrow Airport in west London, leading to mid-air flight diversions and cancellations at one of the world’s busiest airports, with over 1,351 flights affected, according to Flightradar24. Appearing on Times Radio, Mr Calder said: “I’m so sorry to say that so many people are going to have their plans ruined for the day. “This could not have happened at a worse time.”
The travel expert said that around 230,000 to 240,000 passengers were expected to arrive at the airport today.
Calder said passengers are being forced to land outside the UK, like the British Airways flight from Accra in Ghana that was diverted to Lyon in France with many passengers who may not even have the right paperwork to enter Europe.
He added: “They will be stuck possibly in the transit lounge. That is going to be a complete nightmare for them.”
“British Airways, which has more than half the 1300 or so flights today, is going to have its planes, its pilots, its passengers all stranded in the wrong places.”
Heathrow Airport will remain closed throughout Friday due to the fire at a nearby electrical substation, the North Hyde Electricity Substation in Hayes that supplies power to the airport.
The fire began late Thursday night, causing power outages for thousands of homes, including 5,000 that have yet to be restored.
Deputy commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, Jonathan Smith, said that there is still no power at Terminal 2 and Terminal 4 of Heathrow Airport, the second busiest airport in the world.
Last year, a record number of 83.9 million passengers travelled to London Heathrow Airport.
