A fire at a substation close to Heathrow has left Europe’s busiest airport looking like a ghost town today.
Photos show the airport, which sees more than 200,000 people passing through it each day, almost deserted, with management telling people not to travel there “under any circumstances.”
All flights in and out have been cancelled as emergency workers and specialists work to get power restored.
The airport is not scheduled to open until 23.59pm this evening at the earliest.
The closure and subsequent disruption has the potential to cost the airline industry hundreds of millions of pounds.
Take a look at all the latest pictures from the deserted airport below.
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An airport which handles in excess of 200,000 passengers each day now has nothing but disappointed holiday makers.
Handfuls of travellers have been seen exiting the airport following the cancellation of their flight.
Despite being told not to travel “under any circumstances”, some have tried their luck…
ndrea 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.
“We tried to get in touch with British Airways, but they don’t open their telephone line until 8am.”
(Image: Getty)
Consultant John Strickland said Heathrow’s closure will cost the aviation industry millions of pounds.
He told PA: “It will run into millions. You can’t quantify it yet.
“Heathrow has normally about 200,000 passengers a day, so it’s a massive impact in lost revenues and disruption costs, primarily for the airlines (because of) all the follow-on costs involved in putting people in hotels, refunds, re-bookings etc.”
Mr Strickland said it is “unlikely” that airlines will be able to recoup their losses.
He added: “The substation is nothing to do with the airport.
“I’m sure in the fullness of time, when the dust has settled, there’ll be efforts made to claim something from somebody, I couldn’t really be more precise, whether it’s the electricity provider.”
(Image: Getty)
Around 1,300 flights have been grounded, with other airports attempting to accomodate stranded passengers.
Ryanair said it would organise eight “rescue flights” between the UK and Ireland for passengers affected by the closure of Heathrow.
The Irish airline said in a statement: “Ryanair will operate 4 extra flights between Dublin and Stansted on Friday afternoon as well as 4 extra flights on Sat morning.
“These flights can be booked on http://Ryanair.com from 09:30AM this morning.”
(Image: Getty)
