Dozens of Dublin Airport flights cancelled after horror blaze shuts Heathrow

Heathrow Airport has been forced to close until at least midnight on Friday (March 21) after a fire at an electrical substation plunged part of London into darkness on Thursday night.

At least 1,351 flights were reportedly impacted by the power outage — with Dublin Airport saying that all scheduled flights until mid-afternoon between Dublin and Heathrow have been canceled.

"All flights scheduled between Dublin Airport and London Heathrow up until at least mid-afternoon today (Friday) have been canceled following the closure of Heathrow Airport due to a power outage," Dublin Airport confirmed on Twitter (X).

Dublin Airport confirmed that there were 34 flights — 17 to Dublin, and 17 to Heathrow — scheduled on Friday, with them saying that further disruptions are likely. However, they advised that neither Dublin nor Heathrow Airport have the authority to cancel the flights, and told passengers to contact their airlines directly for their flight’s status.

"Passengers looking for updates regarding specific flights or to re-book or change flight are advised to contact their airline directly by phone or online."

 FlightRadar24 said that at least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow will be affected by the power outage, and 120 flights were in the air en route to Heathrow when the outage occurred.

"Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage across the airport due to a large fire at a nearby electrical substation," a Heathrow spokesperson said. ‘Whilst fire crews are responding to the incident, we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored.

"To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23h59 on 21 March 2025. We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens. 

"We will provide an update when more information on the resumption of operations is available. We know this will be disappointing for passengers and we want to reassure that we are working as hard as possible to resolve the situation."

Online tracking services found that flights were being diverted to Charles de Gaulle Airport in France, London Gatwick, and Shannon Airport in Ireland — with a spokesperson for Shannon saying "We are closely monitoring the situation at Heathrow Airport and are providing support by accommodating diverted flights as needed and our team is on-site to assist with the additional passengers.

"The airport is advising passengers that all London Heathrow flights to and from Shannon Airport today have been canceled. Intending passengers are advised to contact their airline. Aside from this, Shannon Airport is operating its normal flight schedule today.

"So far, Shannon Airport has facilitated six diverted flights originally scheduled to land at Heathrow, including flights from Toronto, Atlanta, Bridgetown Barbados, Boston, Orlando and Newark. The first of these flights landed safely at 04:26am this morning."

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.