London’s Heathrow Airport shut down till midnight today after a fire broke out in an electricity substation in the western part of the city, leading to a “significant power outage”. In an X post Friday morning (India time) the airport advised passengers not to travel and contact their respective airlines for further details.

“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 11.59 pm on March 21,” the airport said.

“Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience.”

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

Visuals of the fire were shared online by Sputnik, Russia’s state-owned news agency. It showed a fiery blaze lighting up the night sky, with a massive plume of smoke rising into the air.

According to the British media the fire broke out at the Hayes substation in west London, and the resulting power shut-off has affected over 16,000 homes. Over 150 people have been evacuated.

Heathrow is among the busiest global airports in the world; a 2024 ranking by OAG, a global travel data provider, placed it at No 4 with over 51 million seats booked on planes, an increase of four per cent from the previous year. Heathrow was also busiest airport in Europe.

News of the day-long outage prompted complaints from worried travellers, with some slamming the power outage as “an embarrassment that a major airport can be closed for a whole day”.

Another user questioned the lack of power back-ups or generators, and a third had a more humorous spin, drawing (modified) parallels to ‘Die Hard’, the iconic action film series starring Bruce Willis. In the second film in the series Mr Willis’ character fights off a terrorist attack at the Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. in the United States.