Edinburgh Airport: All flights to and from London Heathrow cancelled after power cut forces closure of Europe's busiest airport
There's massive air travel disruption today after a power outage forced the closure of London's Heathrow airport.
All flights in and out of the airport, including those to and from Edinburgh, have been cancelled for the rest of the day.
And travel commentators warned the Heathrow closure would mean disruption all weekend and even into next week, with the knock-on effect being felt far and wide.
The outage was caused by a fire at an electricity substation in west London shortly before midnight, which also led to homes and businesses being evacuated and left more than 100,000 properties without power overnight.
Some international flights heading for Heathrow were turned around and returned to their points of departure. Others were diverted to alternative airports all over Europe.
Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport, the second busiest in the world, and around 291,000 passengers were due to fly in or out today.
Edinburgh Airport posted on social media: "Due to ongoing fire near @HeathrowAirport , @British_Airways passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact @British_Airways for further information.”
Among those affected are Tartan Army football fans trying to get home from Athens after Scotland’s 1-0 victory over Greece in the first leg of their Nations League play-off.
One fan who should have been on an early flight to Heathrow before flying up to Scotland said she had managed to get booked on an alternative flight.
She said: “The Greeks have actually been really fantastic. We went to Aegean but unfortunately they were all booked out, then we checked with Sky Express and they had a few seats - they do come with an eye-watering 500 euro price tag.”
She said people were in “high spirits” after last night’s win. “Thank God we didn’t lose.”
A Heathrow Airport spokesperson said: "To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23:59 on 21 March 2025.
"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.”