Huge fire closes UK's Heathrow Airport

Britain's Heathrow Airport said it would be closed all of Friday after a huge fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out power, disrupting flight schedules around the world.

The London Fire Brigade said around 70 firefighters were tackling the blaze in the west of London, which caused a mass power outage at Heathrow, Europe's busiest and the world's fifth busiest, airport. Orange flames could be seen shooting into the sky. The fire brigade said the cause of the fire was not known.

According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, scores of flights were already being diverted to other airports, 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 US were turning around mid-air and returning to their point of departure.

A United Airlines flight from San Francisco was due to land in Washington, DC rather than London. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic diverted flights to nearby Gatwick. "To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23h59 on 21 March," Heathrow Airport said in a post on X, adding that passengers were advised not to travel to the airport.

ARN News has contacted UAE airlines to check if flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been impacted. 

On the ground, a number of homes and businesses were without power. "Firefighters have led 29 people to safety from neighbouring properties, and as a precaution, a 200-metre cordon has been established, with around 150 people evacuated," the fire brigade said.

Fire crews were responding to the accident but there was no clarity on when power may be reliably restored, a Heathrow spokesperson told Reuters in an email, and added that they expect significant disruption over the coming days.

Eurocontrol, which manages air traffic control operations across Europe, said on its operations website that no arrivals were being allowed at Heathrow due to the power outage and there were diversion plans in place for flights.

Heathrow is one of the busiest two-runway airports in the world with about 1,300 combined take-offs and landings a day, according to its website."Heathrow is one of the major hubs of the world," said Ian Petchenik, spokesman for FlightRadar24. "This is going to disrupt airlines' operations around the world."