London’s Heathrow Airport announces complete shutdown due to power outage

The closure of Heathrow Airport has caused massive travel disruptions, with hundreds of flights coming from across the globe forced to divert midair.

“Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage. To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23h59 on 21 March. Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience,” says in X.

Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage.

To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23h59 on 21 March.

Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport… pic.twitter.com/7SWNJP8ojd

— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) March 21, 2025

Some more details from Flightradar24, which says that more than 1,000 flights will be impacted by the sudden closure of Heathrow today.

“Today’s total closure of London-Heathrow will affect at least 1,351 flights to/from LHR,” the flight tracker said in a post on Bluesky, “That doesn’t include any flights that might be cancelled or delayed due to aircraft being out of position.”

Today’s total closure of London-Heathrow will affect at least 1,351 flights to/from LHR.

That doesn’t include any flights that might be canceled or delayed due to aircraft being out of position.

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— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24.com) 21 March 2025 at 04:02

Flight diversions

The sudden closure has caused a ripple effect across global aviation networks.Flights en route to Heathrow have been diverted mid-air to various airports.For instance, Qantas Airways redirected its flight from Perth to Paris, while a United Airlines flight from New York was diverted to Shannon, Ireland.Some flights from the United States turned around mid-flight to return to their