HEATHROW AIRPORT CLOSED BY HUGE FIRE AT POWER STATION- Global flight schedules have been disrupted
UK’s Heathrow Airport was shut today after a huge fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out its power, disrupting flight schedules around the world.
Around 70 firefighters were tackling the blaze in the west of London, which led to a mass power outage at Heathrow, UK’s busiest airport, and also knocked out its back-up power system.
Around 150 people were evacuated from nearby buildings and thousands of properties were without power.
The fire brigade said the cause of the fire was not known.
According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, dozens of diversions to other airports were already occurring, with Qantas Airways sending its flight from Perth to Paris and a United Airlines New York flight heading to Shannon, Ireland.
Some flights from the U.S. were turning around mid-air and returning to their point of departure.
Heathrow said the airport, which was due to handle 1,351 flights during the day, flying up to 291,000 passengers, would stay closed until midnight as it was experiencing a significant power outage.
