An expert has shared that the disruption at Heathrow Airport is the worst since the Icelandic ash cloud back in 2010, which cost the aviation industry £130 million a day
An expert has compared the Heathrow Airport closure chaos today to the Iceland volcano eruption, predicting the disruption to cost millions.
Heathrow Airport will remain closed all day today after a fire broke out at an electrical substation that supplies the airport with power. The scale of the disruption is hard to overstate, with Europe’s busiest airport likely to be completely out of action for the whole of Friday.
Aviation consultant John Strickland has likened the disruption today to one of the most expensive and chaotic episodes in aviation history. “It’s a contained version of … the Icelandic volcanic eruption”, he told the Metro. John added that the disruption will run for “several days”.
Back in April 2010, the Icelandic eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano led to some 100,000 flights being grounded, as millions of international travellers became stranded and air travel was halted for several days due to concerns that the fine ash could damage jet engines.
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More than 95,000 flights were cancelled during the six-day airspace closure, which meant millions of passengers were stranded and global travel was impacted. At the time, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that the airline industry would lose around $200 million (£130 million) a day during the disruption. And once the immediate chaos caused by the volcanic eruption passed, the total cost caused to the aviation industry was found to be approximately $1.7 billion (£1.1 billion).
Over 120 flights were in the air and on their way to Heathrow at the time the fire broke out. Since then hundreds of flights have been cancelled. More than 200,000 people travel through the airport each day. The disruption is expected to continue into the weekend, with over 1,000 planned to be diverted before midnight tonight.
Travellers have been warned not to travel to the airport and to wait for their airline or the airport to contact them with updates. Looking at the cost of the disruption caused by the Icelandic eruption, John predicts Heathrow’s closure “will run into the millions”, however it cannot be quantified yet. He added that it is “unlikely” that airlines will be able to recover their losses.
The fire occurred at North Hyde Electricity Substation in Hayes, which supplies electricity to the airport as well as the surrounding area. Flights are currently being diverted to other airports including Shannon, Amsterdam, and Paris.
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The fire at the National Grid facility is believed to have come from a transformer — a device which transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another or multiple. Flights are not expected to resume until midnight. The fire was brought under control at around 8am this morning.
In a statement Heathrow said: “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 23:59 on 21 March. Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience.”
