Ryanair has launched eight ‘rescue flights’ following the closure of Heathrow Airport this morning due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport with power
Ryanair has launched a ‘rescue flights’ mission following the closure of Heathrow Airport.
The airline has announced eight ‘rescue flights’ following the closure of Heathrow Airport this morning, due to an electrical fire.
The flights include two flights from Dublin, Ireland to London Stanstead, and two flights from London Stanstead to Dublin, Ireland, today. And then two more flights from Dublin to London Stanstead and two from Stanstead to Dublin tomorrow.
The flights will be available to be booked on Ryanair’s website from 9.30am today. Heathrow Airport has closed for all of today following a huge fire at the electrical substation supplying its power.
READ MORE: Heathrow Airport closed LIVE: Fire causes power outage with all runways SHUT until midnight and thousands stranded
All travellers have been ordered not to travel to the airport, served by British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Delta Air Lines and other firms, due to the “significant power outage”. It has happened as a result of a large blaze at North Hyde Electricity Substation, which is in Hayes, west London, following which several homes have been evacuated.
Firefighters are currently at the scene at the National Grid facility, where a transformer — a device which transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another or multiple — remains alight. It is currently unclear when services will return to normal at Heathrow Airport and as a result, no passengers will be able to fly in or out of the airport today.
Passengers must await further information from the airport and their airline. Currently, over 1,000 flights today are expected to be diverted elsewhere.
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.”
Whilst the cause of the fire is unclear at this stage. The Mirror has contacted National Grid, which operates North Hyde Electricity Substation, for comment.
Deanosky, a British Pokémon Go player, was due to head to Pokèmon GO Stockholm Regional Championship. He commented on X: “Due to the fire at London Heathrow Airport today, my flight to Stockholm has been cancelled. It comes with huge regret to announce I will not be competing at the Pokèmon GO Stockholm Regional Championship. Good luck to all those competing.”
Another user, tweeting to Gulf Air, said: “We are stuck at Frankfurt airport en-route from Bahrain to London Heathrow. There is no rep from the airline at the counter to inform us about next steps!”
Meanwhile a local resident, who experienced a power outage due to the incident, also commented on the social media platform: “We have power back but last night it was off for a while. Still major disruption at Heathrow.”
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