Heathrow closure throws travel plans into chaos – as weddings, rugby tours and Arctic Circle trips affected
Thousands of passengers are facing delays and cancellations after Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, was forced to close following a fire at a nearby substation.
Travellers heading to weddings, the Arctic Circle, rugby matches and birthdays have been left scrambling to find alternatives.
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Runways deserted as substation fire is put out
Around 1,357 flights have been affected, according to data from Flight Radar.
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Sleeping in the snow
Adventurer Jordan Wylie during his training in Sweden. Pic: Kate Knight, Army Cadets Media
Jordan Wylie MBE told Sky News he is sleeping in the snow tonight after his flight home from northern Sweden was cancelled.
The adventurer was training for an Antarctic expedition where he will attempt to climb a series of unclimbed and unnamed peaks in aid of the Army Cadets Charity.
Adventurer Jordan Wylie will sleep in his tent in northern Sweden tonight after his flight home was cancelled. Pic: Kate Knight, Army Cadets Media
However, his training has been extended by one more day because of the Heathrow chaos and he will sleep in his tent again.
Read more: What are your rights if your flight is delayed or cancelled?
He will now have to fly “from Northern Sweden to Stockholm to Frankfurt to Heathrow but not for at least 24 hours”, according to representatives he’s spoken to from Scandinavia Airlines (SAS).
Long-awaited best friend’s wedding
One woman in Minneapolis said her husband would miss his best friend’s wedding after their flight was turned around over the Atlantic Ocean.
A passenger checks her phone as she waits to fly to Toronto via Heathrow International Airport. Pic: Reuters
“This wedding is a huge deal because it got postponed due to Covid, then their toddler got leukaemia,” she said.
“Now the wedding is finally happening. We are so gutted,” she said, adding it was the family’s first international flight.
“We are back in our car in Minneapolis heading home at 2.40am with our toddlers wide awake in the back seat wondering why we aren’t in London.”
“Absolute shambles” says passenger heading back for new job
Lloyd Mcbratney and his girlfriend on their trip to the Philippines, which has ended in confusion. Pic: Lloyd Mcbratney
Lloyd Mcbratney described “panic and confusion” on his flight from Kuwait to Heathrow when the plane “suddenly U-turned without explanation”.
He and his girlfriend were travelling back from a trip to the Philippines but are now waiting at an airport hotel in Kuwait.
A flight map shows the Kuwait to Heathrow flight turning around. Pic: Lloyd Mcbratney
“We have no idea when we will be going back home, 0 guidance, 0 communication,” he told Sky News.
To make matters worse, Mr Mcbratney starts a new job on Monday.
“Absolute shambles,” he said.
Rugby juniors missing out on ‘trip of a lifetime’
Alex Wiffen says the London Irish Under 12s rugby team have had the “trip of a lifetime” to Dublin thrown into disarray.
Forty-five girls and boys were supposed to graduate from minis to their first junior rugby games this weekend after fundraising for the trip for a year, he said.
A passenger waits for information about his flight to Heathrow. Pic: Reuters
“It’s a trip that’s been happening for 40 years and it’s the inaugural trip for the girls’ team,” says Alex.
“Our flights at 8am this morning were cancelled and now there is no way to get to Dublin.”
The players and 70 parents are now just “praying we can get there ASAP” before their first match against Clontarf Rugby Club tomorrow morning.
Stuck at Manchester airport
Nigel and Pam Turner
Nigel and Pam Turner have been diverted into Manchester Airport from Heathrow after they flew out from Dubai.
They were expecting to land at Heathrow at 7am – but are now stuck waiting in Manchester Airport until 7pm for an onward flight to Guernsey, which they paid for themselves.
The couple said they only found out what had happened while they were in the air – when they saw the couple in front had the news on their screens, and realised there had been a fire affecting Heathrow.
It wasn’t until the plane was over the English Channel they found out they would actually be landing in Manchester.
Speaking from a coffee shop at T2 arrivals, they said they were in good spirits, but hoping to find somewhere comfortable to wait out the nine hours before their flight out. “C’est la vie” Nigel said. “Nothing we can do about it”.
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Heathrow: What can passengers do?
Husky-sledding in the Arctic Circle
John Climpson said he was up at 3am to fly out to the north of Sweden to start a 240km husky sledding challenge in the Arctic Circle.
“Now the whole trip might be cancelled,” he said.
“Everyone is now desperately trying to rebook hotel rooms at the Terminal 2 Premier Inn.”
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Drone footage shows substation on fire
Confusion in Shanghai
A family of four coming home from a two-week tour of China said they found out their flight home was “delayed” at check-in at Shanghai airport.
A sign at Shanghai airport informing passengers of the delay. Pic: Sohan Shah
After travelling from Beijing to Xi’an and Shanghai, Sohan Shah and his family, from Croydon, found confusing scenes at the airport.
“Due to the language barrier staff could not explain to us why, until we saw the Sky News report explaining the Heathrow fire,” said Mr Shah.
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“[The airport staff] kept sending us back and forth to different counters where we have now been rebooked to a flight to London Gatwick at 1.30 in the morning,” he told Sky News.
“They eventually put us in a coach to a local hotel and provided food vouchers for the night,” he said.
From Derby to DC for 50th birthday
Virgin Atlantic passenger Andy was supposed to be flying from Heathrow to Washington DC today to start his 50th birthday celebrations.
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Airlines face £30m Heathrow bill
Instead, he is stuck in a hotel room he booked for last night to break up the travel day.
“I live in Derby – and I’m unsure whether to stay in London or go home and wait to hear more,” he said.
Heathrow has cancelled all flights until midnight on Friday.
U-turn to the US
Rafa, from London, was on a flight from Dallas when the pilot U-turned at 4am.
“Cannot believe that Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest and best airports, is not running on some sort of independent power to carry on operations,” he said.
“And the decision made to turn around to America is crazy considering how many flight options [there] are from Germany and France back to the UK.”
He added: “Nightmare on all accounts.”
A member of rap trio Kneecap was greeted by hundreds of supporters as he arrived at court this morning, charged with allegedly supporting a proscribed terror organisation.
Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in London in November last year.
Demonstrators waving flags and holding banners in support of the rapper greeted him with cheers as he made his way into Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The rapper is mobbed by fans and media as he arrives at court. Pics: PA
Supported by his Kneecap bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, it took the rapper more than a minute to enter the building as security officers worked to usher him inside through a crowd of photographers.
Fans held signs which read “Free Mo Chara”, while others waved Irish and Palestinian flags.
As the hearing got under way, O hAnnaidh confirmed his name, date of birth and address, with the court hearing an Irish language interpreter would be present.
During a previous hearing, prosecutors said the 27-year-old is “well within his rights” to voice his opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, but said the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town was a “wholly different thing”.
O hAnnaidh is yet to enter a plea to the charge.
Bandmates Naoise O Caireallain (pictured, centre) and JJ O Dochartaigh are supporting O hAnnaidh. Pic: Reuters
Who are Kneecap?
Kneecap put out their first single in 2017 and rose to wider prominence in 2024 after the release of their debut album and an eponymously titled film – a fictionalised retelling of how the band came together and their fight to save the Irish language.
The film, in which the trio play themselves and co-star alongside starring Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender, won the BAFTA for outstanding debut earlier this year, for director and writer Rich Peppiatt.
Last year, they won a discrimination case against the UK government after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was business secretary.
They are known for songs including H.O.O.D, Fine Art, and Better Way To Live, featuring Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten.
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A council has won its bid to temporarily block asylum seekers from being housed at a hotel in Essex.
Epping Forest District Council sought an interim injunction to stop migrants from being accommodated at the Bell Hotel in Epping, which is owned by Somani Hotels Limited.
A government attempt to delay the application was rejected by the High Court judge earlier on Tuesday.
The interim injunction now means the hotel has to be cleared of its occupants within 14 days.
Somani Hotels said it intended to appeal the decision.
Several protests have been held outside the hotel in recent weeks after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with trying to kiss a teenage girl and denies the allegations. He is due to stand trial later this month.
Police officers ahead of a demonstration outside The Bell Hotel in July. Pic: PA
At a hearing last week, barristers for the council claimed Somani Hotels breached planning rules because the site is not being used for its intended purpose as a hotel.
Philip Coppel KC, for the council, said the problem was “getting out of hand” and “causing great anxiety” to local people.
He said the hotel “is no more a hotel [to asylum seekers] than a borstal to a young offender”.
File pic: PA
Piers Riley-Smith, for Somani Hotels Limited, said a “draconian” injunction would cause “hardship” for those in the hotel, arguing “political views” were not grounds for an injunction to be granted.
He also said contracts to house asylum seekers were a “financial lifeline” for the hotel, which was only 1% full in August 2022, when it was open to paying customers.
Protesters and counter-demonstrators outside The Bell Hotel in July. Pic: PA
The hotel housed migrants from May 2020 to March 2021, then from October 2022 to April 2024, with the council never instigating any formal enforcement proceedings against this use, Mr Riley-Smith said.
They were being placed there again in April 2025 and Mr Riley-Smith said a planning application was not made “having taken advice from the Home Office”.
At the end of the hearing last week, Mr Justice Eyre ordered that Somani Hotels could not “accept any new applications” from asylum seekers to stay at the site until he had made his ruling on the temporary injunction.
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