At least 1,350 flights to and from London’s Heathrow Airport face cancellations at Europe’s busiest tourist hub after a fire left the airport closed for a day without power.
Passengers say power is back on at one of two Heathrow airport terminals left in the dark after a substation fire.
Firefighters previously announced that terminals 2 and 4 at the airport were left without electricity after the fire. Heathrow closed the airport to all incoming and outgoing flights until at least midnight.
The utility said it was finding a “temporary solution” that reconfigured its network, allowing power to be restored to Heathrow. It is unclear if power has been fully restored at the airport. The airport says it does not know when power will be restored and expects the outages to last for days.
While the cause of the fire that shut down Heathrow Airport is still unclear, analysts say the incident raises concerns about Britain’s ability to withstand attacks or natural disasters that damage critical infrastructure such as communications and power grids.
The fallout of the Heathrow Airport fire has been branded a “national embarrassment” after a single substation had a devastating effect on around 200,000 passengers.