London's Heathrow Airport will be closed all day on March 21 after a “serious” blackout caused by a major electrical substation fire.
In a post on X, the operator of London's main gateway said that the airport will be closed until 23:59 on March 21, so it will “keep passengers and colleagues safe.”
Heathrow has experienced a major power outage due to fires at current engines supplied to the airport.
To maintain safety for passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23H59 on March 21st.
Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport…pic.twitter.com/7swnjp8ojd
– Heathrow Airport (@heathrowairport) March 21, 2025
“We recommend that passengers not travel to the airport and should contact the airline for more details,” the post adds.
In a statement to Flightglobal. Firefighters are responding to fires at the substation, but “we don't know when electricity will definitely recover,” according to Heathrow Airport.
Heathrow adds that he hopes for “a great disruption in the coming days” but does not indicate when the airport will reopen.
Eurocontrol's network operations portal shows that airports will be closed “until further notices” with detour requests sent to at least 11 airports, including Gatwick and Stansted in London, Charles Degaard in Paris, and Cipol Airport in Amsterdam.
So far, flight tracking site Flightradar24 has estimated 120 flights affected by Heathrow's closure. The flights are now being converted to nearby Gatwick, Amsterdam, Glasgow and Shannon.
According to the BBC, a fire broke out at a substation near the airport late March 20th, and the cause of the fire is still unknown. Firefighters worked all night to contain the fire, with about 150 people living nearby evacuating safely.
