Travel was disrupted after a major fire cut power to London’s Heathrow Airport. At least 1,350 flights were affected by the outages.
As of Friday afternoon, an airport spokesperson said teams “worked tirelessly since the incident to ensure a speedy recovery.” The spokesperson added the airport was “safely able to begin some flights.”
“Please do not travel to the airport unless your airline has advised you to do so,” the statement said. “We will now work with the airlines on repatriating the passengers who were diverted to other airports in Europe. We hope to run a full operation tomorrow and will provide further information shortly.”
The spokesperson explained that “as the busiest airport in Europe, Heathrow uses as much energy as a small city, therefore getting back to a full and safe operation takes time.”
“We will have to look hard at the causes, and also the protection and the resilience that is in place for major, major institutions like Heathrow,” U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC.
London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement there was “currently no indication of foul play.”
“Given the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is now leading enquiries. This is due to the specialist resources and capabilities within that command that can assist in progressing this investigation at pace to minimize disruption and identify the cause,” the police said. “All possible lines of enquiry are being pursued and further updates will be provided in due course.”
