Heathrow ‘open and fully operational’
Heathrow airport says “flights have resumed at Heathrow after yesterday’s power outage” and the airport is now “fully operational”.
It added that hundreds of additional staff have been drafted in to help clear the backlog of flights.
A statement read:
We can confirm that Heathrow is open and fully operational today. Teams across the airport continue to do everything they can to support passengers impacted by yesterday’s outage at an off-airport power substation.
We have hundreds of additional colleagues on hand in our terminals and we have added flights to today’s schedule to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers travelling through the airport.
Passengers travelling today should check with their airline for the latest information regarding their flight.
Key events
Virgin Atlantic said on Saturday that it planned to run a “near full schedule with limited cancellations”, a day after Heathrow airport was closed due to an “unprecedented” loss of power caused by a substation fire.
In a statement posted on X, Virgin Atlantic wrote:
Heathrow airport has fully reopened and we plan to run a near full schedule with limited cancellations today.
The impact on today’s flying programme is the result of yesterday’s airport closure following a fire at an electrical substation nearby, which has included the repositioning of aircraft and crews.
We’re incredibly sorry for any disruption to our customer’s journeys and we are working to ensure customers affected can complete their journeys as quickly as possible.”
National Grid apologises for ‘disruption caused’ by power outage
The National Grid has apologised for the disruption caused by a power outage that caused Heathrow airport to close on Friday.
In a statement published on X today, the National Grid said:
Power supplies have been restored to all customers connected to our North Hyde substation, including Heathrow, allowing operations to resume at the airport.
We are now implementing measures to help further improve the resilience levels of our network.
We are deeply sorry for the disruption caused and are continuing to work closely with the government, Heathrow and the police to understand the cause of the incident.”
Malaysia Airlines said on Saturday that it had resumed flights to and from Heathrow airport.
In an update on X, the airline said that flights MH4 (Kuala Lumpur to London Heathrow) and MH1 (London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur) were operating as usual, but advised passengers to update their contact details in the ‘my booking’ section on the Malaysia Airlines website or app to “receive important updates promptly”.
Daniel Lavelle
An eleven-year-old girl was denied the chance to make a long-planned visit to Platform 9 3/4 of King’s Cross station due to Heathrow disruption.
When Aleksandra Sobczak asked his nice Agata which place she would like to visit the most, she answered without hesitation: “London!”
“We are Polish and live in Warsaw. I’m a huge fan of the British Isles and of your extraordinary late monarch, and know London well for a foreigner, having been many times for work and pleasure,” Sobczak told the Guardian.
Sobczak went ahead and planned a surprise trip for Agata:
The trip was to be a surprise for Agata’s eleventh birthday. A London highlights bus trip for kids, Platform 9 3/4 obviously, Oxford Street window shopping, the Tower of London, Greenwich – the works.”
After months of planning Sobczak showed her niece the airline ticket last Tuesday on her birthday.
Clearing up my professional stuff yesterday morning for the London weekend ahead, I got the text message and the email. The airline was respectfully letting me know that, regrettably, the flight had been cancelled. Of all the days in the year? On a surprise my family and I had been planning for Agata for months? Then Agata’s dad texted me: ‘there’s been a fire at Heathrow’.”
Sobczak visited her niece on Friday evening with a conciliatory box of strawberry tarts and a hug.
We talked about Harry Potter and his Leicester Square statue. And the River Thames. We will see them in May.”
Here are some pictures of passengers on the move again at Heathrow airport:
Here are some more images related to the air travel disruptions:
The substation fire was a “catastrophic failure” Robin Preece, a senior lecturer in future power systems at the University of Manchester, tells Sky News.
“Although we do sometimes see transformers or bits of electrical equipment fail, actually having them fail so catastrophically that they cause a large fire – which then leads the whole substation to be shut down – that’s what really tips this from being a more normal event into something that’s very, very unlikely,” he said
Earlier, transport secretary Heidi Alexander said the Department for Transport was “taking action to help people get where they need to be”, highlighting the news that the department had lifted restrictions on night flights to ease the backlog and rail tickets could be used flexibly to help passengers.
Good afternoon Guardian readers.
If you have been affected by the disruption at Heathrow airport in any way and would like to share your stories, please get in touch.
My email address is:
Danny.lavelle.freelancer@theguardian.com
Air India confirmed on Saturday that its flights to and from Heathrow airport had recommenced.
In a post on X, the airline wrote:
Our operations to and from London Heathrow (LHR) have recommenced after the disruption at the airport yesterday due to a power outage.
Today’s flight AI111 was on schedule and other flights, to and from London, are expected to operate as per schedule.
AI161 of 21 March, which was diverted to Frankfurt, is expected to leave Frankfurt at 14:05 pm local time.”
Allan Glen
Virgin Atlantic issued a statement on Saturday apologising for the disruption at Heathrow airport and said it planned to run a “near full schedule with limited cancellations today”.
The airline said Heathrow’s closure on Friday had left an “impact on today’s flying programme”, including the repositioning of aircraft and crews.
Here is the Guardian’s news piece on the chief executive of Heathrow defending the running of the airport after a fire at an electrical substation:
