Heathrow Airport is to remain shut until midnight after a large fire at a nearby electricity substation, disrupting travel for thousands of passengers.

Tracking site Flightradar24 estimates 1,357 flights would be affected (679 into and 678 out of Heathrow) today, including around 120 which were already in the air this morning before the shutdown.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Sky News “it was too early to know” what caused the “catastrophic fire”.

Follow live updates on Heathrow closure

Passengers have been warned to stay away from the airport and all trains to Heathrow have been suspended.

“To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23h59 on 21 March 2025,” Heathrow said in a statement.

“We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.”

Planes usually begin landing and taking off at around 5am after the regular overnight quiet period.

Around 120 flights were bound for Heathrow when the airport announced it would be closing for the day. Some will have turned back to the airport they departed from. But others were already crossing the Atlantic and have been diverted to airports in Europe.

Data from Flightradar24 shows Amsterdam has taken the most diversions at seven, while Gatwick, Frankfurt and Shannon have all taken six flights each.

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports and had a record 83.9 million passengers last year, with a plane landing or taking off around every 45 seconds.

Flight delayed or cancelled? What are your rights?

Stranded passengers

Flightradar24 estimates that means there are about 220,000 passengers using the hub every day.

Its total closure is set to have knock-on effects on airline operations around the world for several days to come.

Matt, who is waiting at Canada’s Vancouver International Airport, told Sky News that British Airways “have been great” and they had been rebooked for a flight on Saturday. “Fingers crossed Heathrow is open!” he added.

But Raman who is stuck in Dubai said: “Flight keeps getting delayed – just seems crazy that BA won’t cancel it considering Heathrow is closed anyway. Zero comms from BA.”

British Airways, the biggest carrier at Heathrow, reiterated that customers should not go to the airport until further notice.

A statement said: “This will clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers and we’re working as quickly as possible to update them on their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond.”

Gatwick Airport said in a statement that it is “supporting by accepting diverted flights as required” and that it is operating “as normal today”.

Meanwhile Ryanair has launched what it is calling eight “rescue flights” for passengers affected by the Heathrow closure.

16,000 homes without power

The fire that caused the power outage is at a substation in Hayes, about 1.5 miles to the north of the airport, and an estimated 16,000 homes nearby are also without electricity.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said the blaze was now under control and, while there have been no casualties, crews evacuated 29 people from neighbouring properties.

Earlier pictures from the scene – on Nestles Avenue – showed large flames and plumes of thick black smoke.

LFB said 10 engines and around 70 firefighters had been working to extinguish the blaze – with the first 999 call received at 11.23pm on Thursday.

It said a transformer within the North Hyde substation had caught alight but the cause is so far unknown.

A National Grid spokesperson said they “working at speed to restore power supplies as quickly as possible” after the fire damaged equipment.

Backup generator also failed

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Sky News there was a backup generator but it was also affected by what he called a “catastrophic fire”.

He described the situation as “unusual and unprecedented” adding it was “too early to know” what caused the substation blaze.

Fire was ‘significant incident’

LFB Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne said it was a “significant incident” but crews “successfully contained the fire and prevented further spread”.

“While power has been restored to some properties, we continue to work closely with our partners to minimise disruption,” he added. Local residents have been told to keep their windows and doors closed.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said shortly after midnight that a “widespread power cut” was affecting Hayes, Hounslow and surrounding areas.

A graphic on the company’s website suggested around 16,000 homes were affected.

Israeli strikes killed at least 85 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Five UN staff members have also been killed, according to the head of the UNRWA.

It comes as fighting in the enclave has restarted in recent days.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the United Nations Palestinian relief agency, said on Thursday: “In the past few days, another five UNRWA staff have been confirmed killed, bringing the death toll to 284.

“They were teachers, doctors and nurses: serving the most vulnerable.”

He added he feared “the worst is yet to come”.

“Under our daily watch, people in Gaza are again and again going through their worst nightmare,” he said in a statement.

“An endless unleashing of the most inhumane ordeals.”

Speaking in Parliament, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK government opposed the resumption of Israel’s hostilities and added that a British national was among the wounded when a UN compound was struck on Wednesday.

Israel has previously said it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas.

It denied previous reports it had targeted a UN compound.

Israel resumes strikes

On Tuesday, Israel resumed heavy airstrikes on the enclave killing more than 400 people, bringing to a halt the ceasefire that had paused fighting in the 17-month war.

A day later, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) relaunched ground operations, seizing part of a key corridor that divides the north and south of Gaza – the Netzarim corridor.

On Thursday, the IDF said it had begun a ground operation in northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, Hamas fired three rockets at Israel without causing casualties.

It was the first such attack since the resumption of the IDF’s strikes.

Hospitals across Gaza said the strikes hit houses in Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza and the northern town of Beit Lahiya.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

The European Hospital in Rafah said 26 people, mostly women and children, had been killed in strikes on two family homes overnight.

A father and his seven children were killed in one of the attacks, it added.

The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received the bodies of seven people killed overnight in an attack on a home, it said.

Meanwhile, Hamas said talks with mediators were ongoing.

Fragile ceasefire

Hamas and Israel disagreed over how to proceed with the ceasefire after phase one came to an end.

The militant group wanted to move onto phase two to negotiate Israel’s permanent withdrawal from Gaza, the release of hostages in exchange for more prisoners and an eventual end to the war.

Read more:
What happened to the Israel-Hamas ceasefire?
Siblings among those killed in one of Gaza’s deadliest days

Israel wanted to temporarily extend phase one and for more hostages to be released.

It cut off all supplies to Gaza to try and pressure the group into doing so before restarting its military campaign.

The war started after Hamas militants attacked Israeli communities in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.

More than 49,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing conflict, according to Gaza’s health authorities,

The tone has changed totally. It’s a remarkable turnaround from the Oval Office meltdown to the perfect phone call.

President Trump is wholly transactional. His desire for give and take far outweighs any ideological instincts. He has no particular alignment to Ukraine or, for that matter, to Russia.

He just wants a deal. Peace would stop the killing as he has said repeatedly. It would also allow for deals which can benefit America: recouping the taxpayer money spent on Ukraine and reconnecting the American economy with Russia.

But trumping all that is his legacy and his image. He wants to be seen as the peacemaker president.

Since the Oval Office moment, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy seems now to have recognised all that.

Ukraine’s approach towards Trump has changed. Zelenskyy is now playing his game: transactionalism.

The minerals deal hasn’t dissolved. The indications I am getting is that it’s essentially been upgraded and broadened to a wider scope: fuller economic cooperation.

Zelenskyy needs to encourage America deep into his country economically. Has he bought into the idea that a US economic footprint amounts to a key part of a security guarantee?

Read more:
A timeline of Trump and Zelenskyy’s relationship
What could be the future of Ukraine?
Sky’s correspondents react to Trump-Putin phone call

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The old adage is: “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu.” That’s too true with President Trump.

Zelenskyy now feels like he’s at the table and I am told he doesn’t feel coerced.

The challenges remain huge though: he doesn’t trust Putin. That’s what he tried to tell President Trump in the Oval Office. The performance that day proved to him that Trump is inclined to trust Putin.

Zelenskyy must use transactionalism to draw an impatient Trump in.

President Trump is in a hurry for a deal. He’s inclined to accept wholly disingenuous commitments from Russia, or as one source put it to me: “Trump has a high tolerance for bullshit…”

That’s the jeopardy for Zelenskyy.