The London airport Heathrow Airport was closed all day on Friday due to a large fire in a nearby electricity station that provides the airport with electricity. “To guarantee the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23:59 on March 21,” the airport reports on X.
The at least 120 aircraft that were on the way to the airport departs to other airports. Passengers are advised not to travel to Heathrow and to contact their airline.
“The fire brigade is still fighting the fire, and it is still unclear when the power supply can be reliably recovered,” a Heathrow spokesperson told the BBC. He added that the staff “works as hard as possible to resolve the situation.”
Ten fire trucks and around seventy firefighters were deployed to extinguish the fire, reported the London Fire Brigade (LFB). As a precaution, an area of 200 meters has been deposited and local residents are advised to keep windows and doors closed due to the ‘large amount of smoke’.
Next to the airport are around 16,000 households and companies without electricity. Heathrow is the largest airport in the United Kingdom and processes around 1,300 aircraft every day. Last year a record number of 83.9 million travelers used the airport.