London Fire Brigade has provided an update on the electricity substation fire which involved a transformer comprising of 25,000 litres of cooling oil fully alight.

Firefighters said the blaze has created a major hazard because of the ‘still live high voltage equipment’.

LFB said 67,000 households were left without power and currently 5,000 remain without any supplies.

There remains no power to Heathrow Airport Terminal 2 or Terminal 4.

The fire brigade said:

This remains a very visible and significant incident, and our firefighters worked tirelessly in challenging and very hazardous conditions overnight to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible. As of the most recent update approximately 10% remains alight and we are working closely with SSE to safely resolve the incident.

London Fire Brigade deputy commissioner Jonathan Smith said 29 people were safely evacuated from properties near to the substation fire.

A further 150 people were evacuated to a rest centre following the incident.

Fire safety and fire investigation officers are working with scientific advisers and the Metropolitan Police to investigate the cause of the fire, Mr Smith told broadcasters.

He added:

I would like to conclude by taking this opportunity to thank firefighters and control officers for their courage and professionalism to bring this incident under control, in what were very challenging circumstances.

Air traffic control provider Nats said many flights scheduled to land at Heathrow were unable to use other UK airports because of their ‘limited capacity’ to accommodate diversions.

In a statement, it said:

We have been working closely with Heathrow Airport and with airlines to manage the disruption caused by the closure of the airport today.

We have well-rehearsed plans in place which in the early hours of this morning included a requirement for aircraft to either turn back or divert to a non-UK airport, as well as stopping other flights at their point of departure. This forms part of the aviation industry mass diversion plan.

While some flights were diverted to Gatwick and Manchester, other jets were rerouted to European cities including Paris and Frankfurt.

Nats added:

There was limited capacity at other UK airports to accommodate diversions, particularly of wide-bodied aircraft, which we have been communicating with our airline customers, and has resulted in many flights diverting to northern Europe.

Scheduled flights to other UK airports are unaffected.

Heathrow is the UK’s largest airport, with more than 83.9 million passengers travelling through its terminals in 2024.

Here are some key figures about the airport and the impact of its closure following a fire at an electrical substation.

• 229,000 passengers travel through Heathrow on an average day.
• 1,357 flights have been disrupted on Friday, including 679 arrivals and 678 departures.
• 120 flights were already in the air when the closure was announced.
• More than nine in 10 passengers using Heathrow are travelling to or from other countries. Of the 83.9 million passengers recorded at the airport in 2024, 78.8 million were using international services – 28.1 million for services with other EU countries and 50.7 million for non-EU countries. Domestic passenger traffic accounted for 5.0 million, or 6% of the total.
• Heathrow handled a total of 482,143 aircraft last year: 479,506 passenger aircraft and 2,637 cargo aircraft, Civil Aviation Authority data shows. This was the equivalent of around 1,317 aircraft a day.
• By comparison, the next busiest airport in the UK, Gatwick, handled 265,608 aircraft, or around 726 a day.
• The fire at the substation left 100,000 homes without power at the peak of the outage, later reduced to 4,000. 150 people were evacuated from surrounding properties and 200 emergency calls were made.

The Metropolitan Police said its Counter Terrorism Command was leading the investigation into the fire at an electrical substation in west London ‘given the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure.’

Heathrow Airport was forced to close on Friday after being impacted by the power outage at the North Hyde electrical substation in Hayes.

A spokesperson for the Met said there was ‘no indication of foul play’ but detectives ‘retain an open mind’ over the cause.

The spokesperson said:

We are working with the London Fire Brigade to establish the cause of the fire which remains under investigation. While there is currently no indication of foul play we retain an open mind at this time.

Given the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is now leading enquiries.

This is due to the specialist resources and capabilities within that command that can assist is progressing this investigation at pace to minimise disruption and identify the cause

Hotel prices have surged by up to £946 after Heathrow Airport was forced to close after an electrical substation fire.

Furious travellers have hit out at hospitality firms for ‘profiting off people’s misfortune’ as costs skyrocketed on Friday.

One hotel close to the airport, North Avenue Guest House, was tonight charging £1,000 for a standard room for two people, compared to £54 next Friday.

While it will cost you £555 to stay at Radisson Red London Heathrow tonight, compared to £132 next Friday, according to prices on Booking.com.

Holiday Inn London Heathrow is charging £569 for standard room tonight but just £89 on March 28.

Read the full story here:

Sir Keir Starmer has now spoken about Heathrow for the first time by declaring he recognises the ‘distress and disruption’ caused by the fire.

The Prime Minister said he is receiving regular updates from the scene.

The fire at an electrical substation which has caused the shutdown at Heathrow airport has also resulted in six schools keeping its doors closed today.

Hillingdon Council has announced that a 200-metre cordon has been established with 150 people evacuated because of a ‘ significant amount of smoke’.

An update on the council’s website said that Nestles Avenue Early Years Centre, Pinkwell Children’s Centre, Pinkwell Primary School, Dr Triplett’s C of E Primary School and The Global Academy were all shut.

Botwell House Catholic Primary School was closed but will reopen this afternoon.

The M4 is closed between junction three and four while local bus services are subject to diversions and cancellations, it added

The Piccadilly Line is running as normal but not stopping at Terminal 4.

The Elizabeth Line is not running between Hayes and Harlington and Heathrow while the Heathrow Express service is suspended.

It is unclear how quickly flights will resume at Heathrow once it reopens.

Heathrow has announced it is closed until 11.59pm, but the Government restricts the number of flights that are allowed to take off or land at the airport between 11.30pm and 6am each day.

The airport’s website states:

Sometimes planes need to operate in the night period when they have not been scheduled to do so. This could be for a number of reasons such as delays that have built up during the day or for a technical fault with an aircraft that needs to be repaired.

There is always a delicate balance to be struck as to whether a flight should be allowed at night, considering the effects on local communities, passengers and the airline network.

Passengers are still arriving at Heathrow this morning despite the airport closure which remains in place until at least midnight.

Elvina Quaison was hoping to fly from Heathrow to Dubai on Friday afternoon and travelled to the airport after being told by British Airways her flight was still going ahead.

Ms Quaison, who lives in London, was travelling to celebrate her niece’s 10th birthday.

She told the PA news agency:

I did see on the news everything that had happened and the airport was closed. I’m flying out to Dubai today. My flight’s meant to be at 12.40pm and I’d been checking the news, the websites and my emails. I’m flying with BA and they had said that we should keep an eye on our ‘manage my booking’ and it would give us an update as to what was happening with my flight.

So I got a message (at 8am) to say that my flight was departing and that I can go ahead as normal. So I’ve come to the airport to make the flight which I was told was flying today and I can’t get to the actual airport … I’m just about to call to see what to do.

It comes as London Mayor Sadiq Khan has told people not to travel to Heathrow today under any circumstances.

Counter terrorism police are now investigating an electrical substation fire that has shut London Heathrow Airport for the whole of today amid claims it could be a Russian sabotage attack linked to Vladimir Putin’s campaign of disruption.

More than 1,300 flights to and from the UK’s busiest airport will be impacted today due to its closure following a fire at the nearby North Hyde electrical substation.

Thousands of homes were left without power with more than 100 people evacuated after a transformer at the substation caught fire as a huge explosion was heard.

Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents across Europe since the invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

They allege that the disruption campaign is an extension of President Putin’s war, intended to sow division in European societies and undermine support for Ukraine – although the Kremlin has denied carrying out sabotage efforts against the West.

Read the full story here by Mark Duell, Elena Salvoni, James Tapsfield and Will Stewart

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has now released a statement urging passengers not to travel to Heathrow today under any circumstances.

Mr Khan said he understood the closure would be ‘hugely frustrating’ for thousands expecting to travel as well as those whose power supplies were disrupted.

Here is his full statement on X.

Coach operator National Express announced it has suspended all services to and from Heathrow until 11.59pm because of the airport’s closure.

It said:

Customers are advised not to travel to the airport today. Services to London Gatwick Airport, London Stansted Airport and London Luton Airport will operate as normal.

National Express is proactively contacting customers who have already booked to travel to London Heathrow Airport today and is offering free amendments for those who are affected.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of Advantage Travel Partnership, a network of independent travel agents, predicted that disruption from Heathrow’s closure will continue for several days.

She said:

An incident like this at one of the world’s busiest airports will have a very significant knock-on impact on all travel for the next few days. Of course, the priority for everyone is safety and the airport and the airlines will be working hard today to make sure the area is safe, and that they can resume operations as soon as possible.

Friday is typically the busiest day for travel, with people returning from business trips, going on holiday or visiting friends and family. London airports would have been busy today already and this incident will exacerbate it further.

The closure of Britain’s busiest airport has caused huge disruption for passengers flying to and from the UK today with many travelling over the weekend now fearing the worst.

But while Heathrow is out of action, some other airlines and airports have stepped in to help some of those stranded by today’s closure.

EasyJet, which does not operate at Heathrow, said it will use larger than planned aircraft on key routes on Friday and over the weekend to accommodate disrupted passengers.

Several flights between the UK and Milan, Amsterdam, Paris, Munich and Madrid will have A320 aircraft with capacity for 186 passengers, instead of A319 aircraft which can only carry 156 passengers.

While Ryanair said it is organising eight “rescue flights” between London Stansted and Ireland for passengers affected by the closure.

The airline said in a statement:

Ryanair will operate four extra flights between Dublin and Stansted on Friday afternoon as well as four extra flights on Saturday morning. These flights can be booked on http://Ryanair.com from 9.30am this morning.

Shannon Airport in Co Clare accepted six diversions from Toronto, Atlanta, Bridgetown Barbados, Boston, Orlando and Newark.

And Gatwick has so far welcomed seven diverted flights from locations including Singapore, Johannesburg, Lagos, Cape Town and Doha which were originally destined for Heathrow

by Mark Duell

Vladimir Putin’s disruption campaign could be linked to the electrical substation fire that has shut London Heathrow Airport for the whole day, experts claimed today.

Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents across Europe since the invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

They allege that the disruption campaign is an extension of President Putin’s war, intended to sow division in European societies and undermine support for Ukraine – although the Kremlin has denied carrying out sabotage efforts against the West.

Security expert Will Geddes, director and founder of the International Corporate Protection Group, told MailOnline: ‘If I was a foreign hostile party and I wanted to disrupt one of the busiest airports in the world, cause international embarrassment, create many, many question marks, I would target something like a substation.

Read the full story here:

Scotland fans celebrate after a 1-0 win in Athens last night

Scotland’s football fans are among those caught up in the Heathrow disruption with many of the Tartan Army stranded in Greece following the country’s Nations League play-off last night in Athens.

BBC reporter Thomas Mackintosh said he was among the ‘fortunate’ supporters to board a flight to Gatwick after learning his original flight was cancelled at 5:30am this morning.

But others were looking at more complicated journeys back to the UK via different European cities including Istanbul.

He told the BBC:

For us, it meant having to check-in with another airline, then go through passport control and security again. The layout of Athens airport is one where you must clear passport control as the next step after you first scan your boarding pass at departures.

So, we had to get another stamp on our passport and a little mark from the border control officer to signal our situation.

We know of a few other Tartan Army friends who have tried to get flights back to Scotland via Dublin, Milan, and Rome. I’ve even heard Istanbul mentioned – so it gives you an idea of the fresh travel plans people are having to draw up and fork out for.

Passengers are being denied entry to the airport this morning

Passengers stranded at Heathrow are complaining the instructions on the airport’s website are ‘confusing’ as they spoke of their frustration this morning.

One man, who was expecting to fly to Miami for his son’s first day at university, said he travelled to Terminal 5 on foot with his suitcase only to be told not to enter.

He said:

The website shows ‘flight on time’. They only have a message not to come here, but to check updates.Updates are showing ‘flight on time’, but nobody is allowed to go in. So, it’s so confusing. We would not have come had the website said, ‘flight cancelled’.

Andrea Sri, whose brother Andrew, his wife, and his three children were expected to fly back to Dallas in Texas, where they live, said:

On the British Airways’ website, it says their flight is still scheduled for 12.03. All the other flights to Dallas were cancelled but their particular one just said delayed, so we just thought ‘maybe, there’s a chance. But we’ve come here and the police said no.

Ms Sri, from Greenwich in London, added: ‘It was a waste of time. Very confusing.’

All 34 flights between Dublin Airport and Heathrow on Friday have been cancelled, officials in Ireland have now confirmed.

Graeme McQueen, media relations manager at Dublin Airport Authority, said there were 17 outbound and 17 inbound flights scheduled for today.

He warned passengers looking to travel between the airports over the weekend could also be affected.

Further disruption to flights between Dublin Airport and Heathrow over the coming days is possible. Passengers looking for updates regarding specific flights or to rebook or change flight are advised to contact their airline directly by phone or online.

Singapore Airlines has announced a series of flight cancellations and diversions as a result of Heathrow’s closure.

Four flights scheduled to take off from London today have been cancelled while one set to leave Singapore has also been grounded.

One flight which had already departed from Singapore will return to the country and two flights bound for London have been diverted to Frankfurt and Paris.

The full information was put out by the airline on its X page.

Local residents in Hayes have told how they saw a ‘bright flash of white’ from the electrical substation fire before hearing a ‘massive explosion’.

London Fire Brigade were called to the substation on Nestles Avenue shortly before 11:30pm and remain on the site although the fire is now under control.

Mathew Muirhead, 42, was working a night shift on Thursday when he noticed smoke rising from the substation.

Speaking to the PA News agency, he said:

We were stood outside our branch in Hayes and my colleague noticed smoke coming over the trees. It was 23.30 when we saw it, we were heading to West Drayton, so we went to check it out, we heard the sirens as we were headed to Bulls Bridge roundabout. We saw a bright flash of white and all the lights in town went out.

My wife rang me and told me our electric was out – I found out a few hours later that Heathrow was completely shut down.

A local resident, who did not want to be named, said she heard a ‘massive explosion’ just before midnight.

All the power went off, she said, adding that she could see a ‘huge fire’ through a front window.

‘It just smelled like burning,’ she said, adding that it was difficult to work out where exactly the fire was.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has suggested the closure of Heathrow as a result of a fire at a nearby substation makes the airport look ‘quite vulnerable’.

Mr Miliband was asked on Good Morning Britain whether he thinks there should be more airports given people have found themselves stranded.

He said:

What it makes me believe is we’ve got to understand why this happened, and we’ve got to work out what the lessons are for the resilience of our infrastructure.

He said that National Grid told him they had not seen ‘anything like the scale’ of what happened with the ‘seriousness’ of the fire. He added:

But it makes Heathrow look quite vulnerable and therefore we’ve got to learn lessons, as I say, about not just Heathrow but how we protect our major infrastructure.