Heathrow Restarts Flights Following Substation Fire Power Outage

Some flights have resumed at Heathrow Airport following a power outage brought on by a fire at a nearby electrical substation.

London’s Heathrow, one of the busiest airports in the world, began operating again after being shut down for the majority of Friday due to a fire at a nearby electrical substation that triggered a power outage.

The Associated Press stated that the first plane touched down at approximately 6:30 p.m. local time.

An airport spokesperson stated yesterday afternoon that teams had “worked tirelessly since the incident to ensure a speedy recovery” and that the airport was “safely able to begin some flights later today.” The airport admitted that a fire that occurred late Thursday night at an electrical substation that supplies the airport had caused a “significant power outage.” A minimum of one aircraft was observed taxiing following the statement.

“Unless instructed to do so by your airline, please do not proceed to the airport,” the notification read. “We’ll now collaborate with the airlines to repatriate the travelers who were sent to different airports across Europe. We anticipate operating a complete operation tomorrow and will release further details soon.

“Returning to a full and safe operation takes time because Heathrow is the busiest airport in Europe and uses as much energy as a small city,” the official told CBS News.

At first, Heathrow promised that there would be no flights arriving or departing until the end of yesterday, citing “significant disruption over the coming days.”

There is “at this time no indication of foul play,” according to London’s Metropolitan Police, but counterterrorism officers will be in charge of the investigation into the substation fire that closed the busiest airport in Europe.

Since the substation is located there and the event has affected vital national infrastructure, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is now in charge of the investigation. This is because of the specialized tools and resources in that command that can help move this investigation along quickly in order to minimize disturbance and find the reason,” the police said in a statement.