Heathrow closed all day Fri 21/3/25 - Aviation Impacts

[AndyPJG]

Heathrow Airport closes all day over power outage
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg5dg4p2l0o

Heathrow Airport is closing all day Friday because of a large fire at a nearby electrical substation that supplies it.
The airport is experiencing a "significant power outage" because of the fire, a statement from Heathrow said.
"To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23:59 on 21 March," it added.
"Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience."
The fire at the substation in Hayes, in west London, has left thousands of homes without power and caused around 150 people to be evacuated from surrounding properties. /more

 

[Dstock7080]

Heathrow tunnel, M4 spur and A312 Hayes bypass closed.

Terminal 4 station closed. remains open (corrected by Admin)

Elizabeth Line suspended from Hayes & Harlington.

Diversions of early arrivals to: Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Shannon, Bangor (Canada), Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Brussels, Helsinki, Madrid, Barcelona

Many turning back to departure airports: Toronto, New York, Washington, Charlotte

 

[greeny11]

On a different note - with 3 long haul flights diverted to Glasgow and 5 diverted to Manchester, I would expect Avanti services from these cities to be very busy, especially this morning - assuming they allow passengers to leave the planes at these airports, rather than keeping them on board.

 

[brad465]

Local residents will love the peace this will give them.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

ES generally runs its fleet (and staff!) at high intensity on Fridays to Sundays, so might be able to squeeze in eg. 1 extra per day from Paris. If problem takes longer too address, it could run maybe two extra per day during the week? Generally, most rail operations only have v. limited operational reserve.

 

[800001]

On a different note - with 3 long haul flights diverted to Glasgow and 5 diverted to Manchester, I would expect Avanti services from these cities to be very busy, especially this morning - assuming they allow passengers to leave the planes at these airports, rather than keeping them on board.

Why would they keep them on board? Of course they will allow them to disembark.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Out of interest, what is the Piccadilly line doing? I currently have a friend approaching Victoria on one of the Scottish overnight coaches who's onward travel is via the district and Piccadilly for a connecting bus at hatton cross, not I might add to Heathrow

 

[Andy Pacer]

Why would they keep them on board? Of course they will allow them to disembark.

Particularly if Heathrow is expected to remain closed until tomorrow!

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

On a different note - with 3 long haul flights diverted to Glasgow and 5 diverted to Manchester, I would expect Avanti services from these cities to be very busy, especially this morning - assuming they allow passengers to leave the planes at these airports, rather than keeping them on board.A

Airlines will probably try to hire coaches to get passengers to the capital. How many they actually get is another matter

 

[railfan99]

Out of interest, what is the Piccadilly line doing? I currently have a friend approaching Victoria on one of the Scottish overnight coaches who's onward travel is via the district and Piccadilly for a connecting bus at hatton cross, not I might add to Heathrow

An hour ago it was displaying as operating normally.

 

[Bald Rick]

Out of interest, what is the Piccadilly line doing? I currently have a friend approaching Victoria on one of the Scottish overnight coaches who's onward travel is via the district and Piccadilly for a connecting bus at hatton cross, not I might add to Heathrow

Its open.

 

[m0ffy]

Off topic, deleted.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Cheers

 

[Bald Rick]

I wonder how many residents of Windsor, Hounslow and the Richmond area have overslept today…

A quick look suggests most Virgin and BA flights that were on the way to Heathrow have done a “Uey” and heading back to origin. A few have diverted - eg flights from Cape Town and Rio landing in Madrid.

 

[Class15]

Why are Heathrow Express and the Piccadilly line (beyond Hatton Cross) still open? Surely nobody is going to use them to get to Heathrow if the airport’s shut?

 

[Snow1964]

Heathrow tunnel, M4 spur and A312 Hayes bypass closed.

And this evening M25 (junction 10 area) is due to close for the weekend, which makes road transport to/from Gatwick harder.

A section of M4 (near Bristol) is also closing (both closures for bridge demolition) which might affect transferring anyone to flights diverted to regional airports

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Yikes this really is major. World aviation will be affected. I fly back to the USA on Monday but out of MAN.

 

[greeny11]

I only said that because I've seen that some of the aircraft are keeping their passengers on board, but I guess this probably to do with airlines trying to sort the logistics of getting several hundred people to London from up north.

Why would they keep them on board? Of course they will allow them to disembark.

 

[Cross City]

Why are Heathrow Express and the Piccadilly line (beyond Hatton Cross) still open? Surely nobody is going to use them to get to Heathrow if the airport’s shut?

They're not.

Picc line is still open to get people away from the airport.

 

[Class15]

They're not.

Picc line is still open to get people away from the airport.

Thank you, that makes sense. A couple of HEx (Heathrow Express) trains did run to the airport, I presume to form a couple of return services to get people away?

 

[sh24]

Passengers are being allowed off. Gatwick is a zoo this morning due to 4 unexpected long haul arrivals

 

[birchesgreen]

BA A350 from HK flew into Birmingham on divert earlier, right over my house and i missed it!

 

[Snow1964]

Apparently many inbound flights turned back, but long haul flights nearer Heathrow have diverted.

Understand flights have gone to Gatwick, Manchester, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich.

Obviously some of the airlines do not not have staff at other airports, which probably explains why Quantas went to Paris (its only other destination in Western Europe)

 

[dosxuk]

Local residents will love the peace this will give them.

They probably won't be in the coming days when operating hours are extended overnight to get things sorted. The quota system and night flying restrictions are designed to be suspended in circumstances like this.

 

[Mojo]

Why are Heathrow Express and the Piccadilly line (beyond Hatton Cross) still open? Surely nobody is going to use them to get to Heathrow if the airport’s shut?

Airport staff are still required to attend. To suspend the service would also cause disruption for the rest of the line with trains turning short and then coming back early. Even detraining trains and running them empty through the area can cause disruption with blocking back with the time taken to ensure the train is completely clear of customers.

 

[Class15]

Airport staff are still required to attend. To suspend the service would also cause disruption for the rest of the line with trains turning short and then coming back early.

Thank you, that explains the Picc line perfectly. My only remaining question, therefore, is about Heathrow Express, which still seems to be running (albeit limited). No issue with turning back short surely on HEx?

 

[Backroom_boy]

Surprised Heathrow had such a single point of failure

 

[Traveller54]

On a different note - with 3 long haul flights diverted to Glasgow and 5 diverted to Manchester, I would expect Avanti services from these cities to be very busy, especially this morning - assuming they allow passengers to leave the planes at these airports, rather than keeping them on board.

Not to mention later today when weekly commuters who from the north and Scotland who normally fly will be trying to get home for the weekend

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Airlines will probably try to hire coaches to get passengers to the capital. How many they actually get is another matter

Qantas are apparently bussing their Heathrow passengers from Paris CDG where their two overnight flights diverted to.
Doesn't look like Eurostar was an option.

 

[dosxuk]

Suprised Heathrow had such a single point of failure

Is something we're going to hear a lot in the coming hours/days, but it completely misses out that we don't know what backups they have, which are in use and which aren't.

It could well be that they're down to their final backup and aren't allowed to operate flights in case that fails.

With the lack of stories of "suddenly the terminal plunged into darkness", it seems they still have some power. Just not enough, or not enough faith in the continued supply, to actually allow flights in and out.