Heathrow Halted: Power Outage Disrupts Flights, Limited Operations Resume
A major power outage led to the day-long closure of Heathrow Airport, the world’s fifth-busiest airport, on Friday. However, later in the day, airport authorities announced that some flights would resume as backup generators had been activated.
Limited Flight Operations Resume
According to a BBC report, eight long-haul flights were granted clearance to depart from Heathrow on Friday evening (local time). The airport authorities are in urgent communication with passengers to ensure they reach the airport on time. The cleared flights are bound for Johannesburg, Singapore, Riyadh, Cape Town, Sydney, and Buenos Aires.
Widespread Flight Disruptions
Data from FlightRadar24, a flight tracking service, indicates that 1,351 flights were disrupted due to Heathrow’s closure on March 21. As one of the world’s busiest international airports, Heathrow handled 6.3 million passengers in January 2024, a 5% increase compared to the same period last year.
This is not the first time UK airports have faced major disruptions. In 2023, a fault in the air traffic control system caused significant delays across various airports in the country, slowing down take-offs and landings for several days.
United Airlines and Biman Bangladesh Flights Affected
The power outage and subsequent fire incident forced seven United Airlines flights to either return or land at alternate airports. The shutdown also disrupted Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ flight operations.
On Friday (March 21), Biman Bangladesh Airlines General Manager (Public Relations) Bosra Islam stated, "Today, the Heathrow International Airport was shut down due to a fire incident. As a result, Biman’s flight BG 201/202, which departed Dhaka at 8:42 AM and landed in Sylhet, took off for Heathrow at 10:46 AM. However, upon receiving information about Heathrow's closure mid-journey, the flight returned to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 1:52 PM."
The 249 passengers on board were accommodated at designated hotels, and Biman assured that flights would be rescheduled once Heathrow resumed operations.
Biman apologized for the inconvenience caused to passengers due to these unexpected and uncontrollable circumstances and advised them to contact the Biman Call Center (13636) for any updates regarding the London-bound flights.
