Massive disruption ahead as Heathrow closed all day

A substation fire early on Friday in Hayes caused a mass power outage.

The airport will remain closed until midnight.

Aviation analytics firm Cirium estimates 291,000 travellers will be impacted throughout the day.

Cirium data says 665 departures were scheduled for today along with 669 inbound flights.

Half of all departures were to be operated by British Airways with Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa also heavily impacted.

British Airways urged customers to avoid Heathrow ‘until further notice.’

“This will clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers,” BA said.

London Heathrow’s major hub status means cancellations on a global scale from Australia to the US, where some flights turned back after taking off.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, Chief Executive Officer of The Advantage Travel Partnership, said: “For anyone that has a flight booked via a travel agent, contact them in the first instance as they will be able to provide the latest information and advice.”

“Today’s event is likely to qualify as ‘extraordinary circumstances’ so compensation may not be offered. This is very much an evolving situation.”

Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, added: “Don’t attempt to travel to the airport, but instead keep in touch with your airline. You won’t be entitled to compensation but you will be entitled to assistance from your airline, including overnight accommodation if needed.”

“Passengers will have the choice of being rerouted or accepting a refund, and if you opt for the former, your airline is obliged to get you on a new flight as soon as possible.”

Energy secretary Ed Miliband called the substation fire ‘catastrophic’ as a backup generator was also affected by the fire