American television presenters reacted incredibly about how a single fire had closed all day Heathrow Airport today, with two stated: “What a mess!”
Flights were reversed and returned to airports in the US, because more than 200,000 air passengers had canceled or diverted their flights to or from London.
Responding to The Blaze on Fox News this morning, host Ainsley Earhardt of the Fox and Friends Studio said: “What a mess, Friday and spring break.” And reporter Greg Palkot, on the ground at Heathrow, replied: “You are right, what a mess is correct.”
CNN presenter Isabel Rosales in the early starting program of the network also seemed to be shocked by the disruption and told viewers: 'What a big headache. So many questions that need to be answered and reflection that must happen about how a single substation can remove the backup power source from such a critical airport. '
Later on CNN's Program News Central, Mary Schiavo, the transport analyst of the channel, that she believed that the police could have intelligence that it was an 'attack'.
Officers for the fight against terrorism lead the investigation into the fire, although the metropolitan police have insisted that there is currently no indication of cheating '.
Thousands of houses were left without electricity and more than 100 people evacuated after a transformer in the Northern Hyde Electrical Substation on fire.
The airport, which is supplied by the substation, said it was one of the power outage – warned with passengers to expect a disturbance for several days.
Fox News reporter Greg Palkot said today at Heathrow: 'You are right, what a mess is correct'
CNN -anchor Isabel Rosales told the viewers this morning at the early start: 'What a big headache'
CNN transport analyst Mary Schiavo said that the police could have intelligence of an 'attack'
Smoke remains today from the North Hyde Electrical Substation in West -Londen in West -London
All big US breakfast shows reported this morning about the news, where Fox and Friends host Lawrence Jones introduce the story by saying: 'Fox News Alert. Travel Nightmare for thousands around the world while the London airport of Heathrow in London cancel all flights on a power outage. '
His colleague Earhardt added: 'What a mess, Friday and spring break. Greg Palkot is live on the floor there. Hello, Greg. '
And Palkot replied: 'You got it right, what a mess is correct. We stand outside what the busiest airport should be throughout Europe, the London airport Heathrow.
'It is perhaps the quietest airport now. I am going to pans my cameraman, I am Gerry, to pans behind me and the park and the perimeter road to show you that nothing is actually happening at this airport. That the whole thing is actually closed. '
At CNN, MS Schiavo, the former Inspector General of the US Department of Transport, was asked for her response when he heard that the airport had closed.
And she answered: 'Oh, my reaction was, when Heathrow gets a cold, gets the world, you know, pneumonia. And we said that when [Chicago] O'Hare was closed due to a similar fire, a fire that was set a few years ago when Atlanta had to close. That is what we have done with our system.
A transformer in the North Hyde Electrical Substation in West London on fire last night
Parked planes and an empty runway near London Heathrow Terminal 5 today after it was closed
Firefighters who wear masks this morning on the site of the Great Brand in West London
'We have led so much traffic to the most important airports that, when they literally close, we have global chaos. And that is what we will see for several days. '
Mrs. Schiavo also spoke about the investigation and explained how she thought that the police would probably have an indication that there could have been an attack.
She said: 'London is very good at covering the camera. They have really extensive intelligence and camera coverage throughout London and at important substations, infrastructure etc.
“So if they have exchanged it to prevent terrorism, my gamble – this is only my opinion – would be that they have some kind of intelligence, and perhaps it is verbal intelligence or informants who suggest that it might be an attack.”
Online Flight Tracking Service Flighttradar24 said that today the closure would hit more than 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow. This includes 679 planned to land and 678 because of the airport take off.
It said that 120 flights to the airport were in the air when the closure was announced.
Heathrow is the largest airport in the UK, with more than 83.9 million passengers traveling through his terminals in 2024.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: 'Heathrow experiences a considerable power outage at the airport due to a large fire on a nearby electric substation. Although fire staff responds to the incident, we have no clarity about when power can be reliably restored.
Firefighters will continue to apply the fire of the North Hyde Electricity substation this morning
This morning, passengers board a bus near Heathrow Airport after trains were also canceled
Passengers are confronted with Reischaos today after Heathrow airport had to close due to a fire
'To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23h59 on March 21, 2025. We expect a considerable disruption and passengers should not travel to the airport until the airport reopened.
'We will offer an update when more information about the resumption of the operations is available. We know that this will be disappointing for passengers and we want to reassure that we work as hard as possible to resolve the situation. '
It is believed that this is the worse disturbance in Heathrow since 18-23 December 2010, when thousands of Christmas outing passengers camped in the terminals due to widespread cancellations caused by snow.
An investigation showed that the clearing of aircraft stands was slower than required.
In April of that year, air travel was based on Europe because of an ash cloud caused by an Icelandic volcano eruption.
A system failure suffered by air traffic control provider Nats in August 2023 led to flights being canceled in the United Kingdom for a few hours.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband said that the fire seems to have “turned off a backup generator and the substation itself.”
He told BBC Radio 4's Today's Program: “It's too early to say what this caused, but I think we will of course have to look carefully at the causes and also the protection and resilience that is present for large institutions such as Heathrow.”
Parked planes and an empty runway near London Heathrow Terminal 5 today after it was closed
Departure plates and other screens are dark this morning in parts of London Heathrow Airport
He added that 100,000 houses were without electricity at night, and this was later reduced to 4,000.
Flights were diverted to Gatwick, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Shannon airport in Ireland.
A number of flights were also reversed and returned to airports in Canada and the United States.
Gatwick Airport accepted seven diverted flights from locations, including Singapore, Johannesburg, Lagos, Cape Town and Doha, originally intended for Heathrow.
Shannon Airport in Co Clare accepted six distractions from Toronto, Atlanta, Bridgetown Barbados, Boston, Orlando and Newark.
Aviation adviser John Strickland said that the closure of Heathrow is a whole day 'a huge dislocation to recover'.
He added: 'As soon as a plane is in the wrong place with the crew, if you are away from home, you have no other crew to suddenly bring the plane and the passengers back.
'You have to wait until that crew has taken his rest, which is always necessary after a service period.
“We are talking about several days of disruption to restore the aircraft and to use them again to move planned and disturbed passengers.”
A screen on Hatton Cross Underground Station today tells passengers that Heathrow is closed
An almost empty arrival room in Heathrow Terminal 4 in London this morning after the closure
He compared the disruption of what happened after the terrorist attacks of 11 September in 2001, when flights were grounded over the US. He said, “It is an enclosed version of 9/11.”
Rory Boland, editor of the magazine which? Traveling, mentioned passengers are not entitled to compensation, but airlines must offer assistance such as overnight accommodation and the reduction of bookings, including rival carriers at alternative airports.
Scottish and southern electricity networks said there was a large -scale power outage in Hayes, Hounslow and the surrounding areas that influence more than 16,300 houses.
According to the website of the Power Company, authorities wanted to restore power today at 3 p.m.
A spokesperson for the National Raster said that the fire had damaged equipment and that they “worked at speed to restore the feeds as quickly as possible.”
London Fire Brigade said that yesterday received the first reports of the fire at 11.23 pm and reported that it was 'under control' around 8 o'clock.
