London’s Heathrow Airport Shutdown Disrupts Travel Globally

London’s Heathrow Airport was completely shut down last week, due to a power outage caused by a large fire nearby, resulting in massive disruption at one of the world’s busiest travel hubs, Rhea Mogul, Todd Symons, Chris Lau, and Alex Stambaugh reported for CNN.

Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world. I Photo: London Heathrow Facebook

The UK’s National Grid stated that power had been restored to “parts of Heathrow,” but the airport urged passengers not to travel there until it reopens.

Heathrow’s closure is expected to affect more than 1,300 flights in the coming days, with disruptions felt worldwide.

An airline analytics firm estimated that “upwards of 145,000” passengers could be impacted, while an aviation expert told CNN that the airline industry could lose hundreds of billions of dollars, Lauren Kent and Olivia Kemp reported for CNN.

Counter-terror police are investigating the cause of the fire, authorities said, given its impact on “critical national infrastructure.”

The UK’s energy minister stated that there was “no suggestion” of foul play.

Later, Rob Picheta and Caitlin Danaher reported for CNN that Heathrow Airport announced it would restart flights, beginning with “repatriation flights” for passengers diverted to other airports across Europe.

“We’re pleased to say we’re now safely able to begin some flights later today. Our first flights will be repatriation flights and relocating aircraft,” a Heathrow spokesperson said, as reported by Lauren Kent and Robert North for CNN.