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

[Howardh]

There are exceptional measures in place for this type of event to get EU visa-on-arrivals sorted for those who normally would need one in advance. It's in no-one's best interests for people to be stuck airside for (potentially) days.

Glad to read that!

 

[sh24]

Isn't there a potential issue with people who were intending to change planes at Heathrow airside - ie by not entering the UK - who do not have but now need a UK ETA (electronic travel authorisation) to enter the UK. Maybe they are trying to work out what to do with such passengers.

Chief Immigration Officer at the airport has discretion to admit passengers on an exceptional basis when there is disruption. It's a well worn path.

 

[Big Sam]

Yes - planned diverts will be away from Russia. It's the emergency ones where you need to get on the ground as soon as possible that can end up with you landing somewhere not very friendly. For example, in 2018 a 787 got stuck in Iran for several months after it had to make an emergency landing, and the spare parts needed for it to leave again were banned from being taken in to Iran.

I believe the incident to which you refer was a 737 Max 8 of Norwegian. And that was slightly different as it wasn't avoiding Iranian airspace at the time as there was no ban in place. Therefore the most appropriate diversion aerodrome was obviously in Iran (Shiraz). Had there been a ban on place on entering Iranian airspace, then the most suitable aerodrome in case of an emergency wouldn't have been in Iran.

The requirement to file a flightplan in such a way that planned en-route alternatives in Russia are not available, means the chances of an immediate diversion being to a Russian aerodrome is less likely. The only area where I could see it still being a possibility is along the eastern edge of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

 

[poffle]

“Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today added up to 8 rescue flights between Dublin and London Stansted, 4 on Friday and 4 on Saturday to rescue passengers affected by today’s Heathrow closure,” the airline said in a post on social media platform X.

This may be of help to passengers planning to fly Ireland - SE England via Heathrow. Won't really be of any help to transit passengers or those who have landed short of their destinations.

Obviously Ryanair aren't directly affected as they don't fly to Heathrow but they'd love the opportunity to have a go at Aer Lingus and BA.

 

[mpthomson]

“Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today added up to 8 rescue flights between Dublin and London Stansted, 4 on Friday and 4 on Saturday to rescue passengers affected by today’s Heathrow closure,” the airline said in a post on social media platform X.

This may be of help to passengers planning to fly Ireland - SE England via Heathrow. Won't really be of any help to transit passengers or those who have landed short of their destinations.

Obviously Ryanair aren't directly affected as they don't fly to Heathrow but they'd love the opportunity to have a go at Aer Lingus and BA.

They'll have worked out if there's a market for those flights or not. There clearly is or they wouldn't have put them on.

 

[Canary73]

Speaking of Stansted - it usually has spare capacity - could it accept diverts especially from long haul flights?

 

[RailExplorer]

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.

I'm a Richmond resident... Under the flight path. You get used to it and the noise is literally background noise. It certainly doesn't keep you awake at night!

 

[Airline Man]

I’m not working today (phew). After chatting to my colleagues nearly everyone is blaming the Russians (without any evidence) even senior BA management! The last time I remember Heathrow being totally closed was when the volcano in Iceland went off. We were still at work during that but I can clearly remember hearing birds sing and the sound of a motorbike in the far distance. It was earie, no traffic, it was like being in the countryside.

All the food outlets in the terminals were fully stocked up and had to bin everything, no one gave stuff out free to staff. Only Pret sold their food at a big discount to staff.

I'm a Richmond resident... Under the flight path. You get used to it and the noise is literally background noise. It certainly doesn't keep you awake at night!

I live next door to White Waltham airfield in Berkshire. No diversions here! Now that would be interesting if they tried!

 

[cactustwirly]

I'm a Richmond resident... Under the flight path. You get used to it and the noise is literally background noise. It certainly doesn't keep you awake at night!

I grew up under the flight path and concur

 

[800001]

Baggage claim at Gatwick this morning was absolutely packed with grumpy travellers.

BA16 (ex SYD/SIN) and BA12 (ex-SIN) both landed around 5am and their passengers were still waiting for their bags when I passed through at 07:40. Presumably whoever approves the contract for unplanned ground handling doesn't get into work until 9!

Judging by the crowds further down the hall, I think BA58 ex-CPT and BA56 ex-JNB were also still waiting having both landed around 04:30.

They should be thankful that they landed in this country, yes it’s an inconvenience being at Gatwick, but better there than in Europe!

 

[Scotrail314209]

I’m sure all the crew who were meant to fly back from somewhere hot are gutted about their extended layover…

On a serious note though, this is definitely gonna take a few days to resolve, and I hope stranded passengers and crew can get back home soon.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Looks like Delta diverted 4 Heathrow-bound flights to Amsterdam, with the offer of a Eurostar ticket onwards to London.

 

[Howardh]

I’m sure all the crew who were meant to fly back from somewhere hot are gutted about their extended layover…

On a serious note though, this is definitely gonna take a few days to resolve, and I hope stranded passengers and crew can get back home soon.

If it's still closed tomorrow, can airlines get their passengers to where the planes are, given such short notice if that's the case? Also will trains accept an air ticket for free travel? I understand that's what LNER did today?

 

[Backroom_boy]

I'm travelling back from HK Saturday 21st. I'll let you know how I get on....

 

[mpthomson]

Speaking of Stansted - it usually has spare capacity - could it accept diverts especially from long haul flights?

It isn't being used for that currently

 

[Cross City]

I grew up under the flight path and concur

Agreed. It's something people who don't live by airports don't realise. They think it must be thunderous noise all day but it's really not.

I lived right next to BHX for nearly 20 years and it was no different to living next to any mildly busy road that gets some bus or lorry traffic.

 

[SWT_USER]

Who is going to be on the hook for the majority of the cost of disruption today? Heathrow Airport Limited or the individual airlines?

 

[Bletchleyite]

If it's still closed tomorrow, can airlines get their passengers to where the planes are, given such short notice if that's the case? Also will trains accept an air ticket for free travel? I understand that's what LNER did today?

It's nice if they do, but this is where those who thought it was a sensible economy not to have travel insurance (rather than that if you can't afford insurance you can't afford to travel) are going to find it their undoing.

 

[birchesgreen]

I've lived under the BHX flight path since the 70s, they drop undercarriage (and luckily nothing else) when going over my roof. I find road noise far more annoying.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Or it was a deliberate sabotage operation that took out other backups, but we'll have to wait and see what the ultimate cause is.

Russia is essentially now in a state of undeclared hybrid war with the UK.

That said, broadly speaking I favour the 'cockup over conspiracy' explanation for such happenings.

As to what the cause was with this event, like you said it's a case of wait and see.

 

[brad465]

Russia is essentially now in a state of undeclared hybrid war with the UK.

That said, broadly speaking I favour the 'cockup over conspiracy' explanation for such happenings.

As to what the cause was with this event, like you said it's a case of wait and see.

Even if this isn't Russian (or any other) sabotage, it's a reminder that they have and will engage in sabotage acts, so we must prepare regardless.

Meanwhile it's been announced some flights will resume before the end of today, ahead of a hopeful full operation tomorrow:

Heathrow Airport closed latest: Heathrow hopes to run full operation on Saturday as it starts moving aircraft

The airport warns passengers not to travel to the airport unless told to do so by their airline.

www.bbc.co.uk

Heathrow says it hopes to run 'full operation' tomorrow
​

We can bring you more now from the latest update from Heathrow Airport.

It says it hopes to "run a full operation tomorrow and will provide further information shortly", having just announced it is now safely able to "restart" flights.

It says its teams have worked "tirelessly since the incident to ensure a speedy recovery".

It also urges passengers not to travel to the airport unless the airline has advised them to do so.

 

[Horizon22]

Even if this isn't Russian (or any other) sabotage, it's a reminder that they have and will engage in sabotage acts, so we must prepare regardless.

Meanwhile it's been announced some flights will resume before the end of today, ahead of a hopeful full operation tomorrow:

Heathrow Airport closed latest: Heathrow hopes to run full operation on Saturday as it starts moving aircraft

The airport warns passengers not to travel to the airport unless told to do so by their airline.

www.bbc.co.uk

Whilst the airport itself might be open for "full operation" surely its going to be cancellations galore due to the airlines having their planes scattered all over Europe or origin?

 

[sharpener]

Russia is essentially now in a state of undeclared hybrid war with the UK.

That said, broadly speaking I favour the 'cockup over conspiracy' explanation for such happenings.

As to what the cause was with this event, like you said it's a case of wait and see.

Even if Russia had no hand in it, they and many other interested parties will be overjoyed to see how this unplanned experiment has played out.

I favour the cock-up theory though. Possibly aided by unnecessary or inappropriate manual intervention instead of just leaving the automated changeover processes to do their thing. Though that didn't help the brand new 700 fleet cope with low supply frequency in 2019.

 

[brad465]

Whilst the airport itself might be open for "full operation" surely its going to be cancellations galore due to the airlines having their planes scattered all over Europe or origin?

They're reporting the priority is to get planes back to where they need to be tomorrow, along with repatriation of diverted passengers. Might not be enough to 100% fix things tomorrow, but will help.

 

[Watershed]

Who is going to be on the hook for the majority of the cost of disruption today? Heathrow Airport Limited or the individual airlines?

It will be the airlines that are liable to passengers for rebooking as well as the so-called 'duty of care' (i.e. hotels, transfers, meals, roaming costs etc.). The only passengers who aren't covered by the 'duty of care' are those arriving in the UK/EU on non-UK/EU carriers, e.g. SIN-LHR on Singapore Airlines. Everyone departing the UK/EU is covered.

Heathrow are highly unlikely to owe anything to the airlines, as the conditions of their contract will no doubt exclude any liability in the event of the airfield being unavailable. The airlines just won't pay the landing/departure fees for flights that don't happen and passengers that don't travel.

This leaves a rather uneven playing field, as infrastructure providers such as airports and ATC lack a sufficient incentive to ensure their systems are resilient and have proper back-up capabilities. This is a point that Willie Walsh has - for once, fairly - made today.

 

[Dstock7080]

aircraft heading into Heathrow now 17.45, including a repositioning BA A380 from Gatwick G-XLEJ

 

[Class15]

aircraft heading into Heathrow now 17.45, including a repositioning BA A380 from Gatwick G-XLEJ

I thought it was shut until the end of the day?!

G-XLEJ was on a flight from Singapore which seems to have been diverted to Gatwick.

 

[birchesgreen]

Even if Russia had no hand in it, they and many other interested parties will be overjoyed to see how this unplanned experiment has played out.

Oh for sure, they definitely will have been making notes.

 

[125Spotter]

Heathrow have put out an announcement, and since are giving briefings and have the transport secretary doing similarly, which seem highly dubious and very much going on the offensive in response to criticism of their exposure to this not unforeseeable event. I find myself questioning the veracity of their claims.

Black swan incidents do happen from time to time, fallback systems fail, the perfect storm of issues coincides, and perhaps this is such an event – but I am also very interested in whether decision making arising from misaligned incentives (per Willie Walsh), "enterprise risk frameworks" and the impact of everything else that tries to squeeze the life out of hard engineering decisions so as to make them just another line item around a boardroom table.

I know as much as the next person on the decisions that led to this event, but the fact of the matter is that a single substation failure seems to have had cascading effects on the ability for a piece of "critical national infrastructure" to operate at all – and they didn't have any means to recover quickly. I don't see any other way to skin it.

It is rather frustrating when this quickly becomes a PR game of cover, deflect and pacify rather than accept, apologise and commit to better. This seems so prevalent in our services and institutions today (it is rare to ever receive an apology) and is a good reminder of how centralisation and standardisation reduces the resilience of a system in handling anomalous events without complete collapse.

Quoting from the piece in the press, with my commentary:

“We have multiple sources of energy into Heathrow.

It's trivially possible for this to be true without it actually meaning much – are those supplies intended to be resilient and interchangeable, or separate supplies for separate purposes? The rail network could still operate through the site with traction feeders from elsewhere – satisfying the definition of "multiple sources".

But when a source is interrupted, we have back-up diesel generators and uninterruptable power supplies in place, and they all operated as expected.

Great – so this sort of confirms the above in that it's not intended as a redundant system ("a source is interrupted" => run on diesel). Safety of flight wasn't impacted, which everyone keeps reminding us about as if that should be a surprise, but the airport couldn't function effectively for a day.

Our back-up systems are safety systems which allow us to land aircraft and evacuate passengers safely, but they are not designed to allow us to run a full operation.

Do they have multiple HV feeders, from separate sources, maybe connected in a ring, and N+1 or N+2 redundancy so they can lose one and still run the airport on full load? Apparently not, or at least they weren't working correctly.

As the busiest airport in Europe, Heathrow uses as much energy as a small city, therefore it’s not possible to have back-up for all of the energy we need to run our operation safely.

Meaningless drivel about consuming as much energy as a small city, which seems to be intended to keep criticism at bay by some appeal to handwaving "it's complicated". Plenty of other energy demanding facilities (data centres, heck even actual urban areas) are typically capable of operating with loss of a single feeder...

“We are implementing a process which will allow us to redirect power to the affected areas, but this is a safety critical process which takes time, and maintaining safety remains our priority, so we have taken the decision to close the airport for today.”

It rather surprises me that, had this sort of eventuality been foreseen, this wasn't a tried, tested, practised and documented procedure such that it could have been implemented with far less time.

I will stand corrected if there are indeed legitimate reasons that, despite the above, things broke in unforeseen ways – but I hold my suspicions that some people may have egg on face today as a result of botched resilience arrangements or failure to adequately plan – with huge consequences for many travellers and employees.

 

[noddingdonkey]

Where flights have diverted within the UK and passengers are being put on coaches, I wonder if they are arranging drop offs at somewhere useful in additional to the airport, given the disruption to onward travel?

I had a flight diverted to Liverpool from Leeds Bradford and was disappointed that there wasn't an option to be dropped in Leeds (for easier access to onward travel for those who didn't have a car parked at the airport) - going to the airport, where there were no available taxis, and buses had moved to the infrequent off-peak timetable by the time we arrived, added a further 90 minutes to the delay.