Airlines issue statements as Heathrow closed all day after ‘catastrophic’ fire

This morning, Heathrow warned there would be "significant disruption in the coming days after a fire at an electrical substation caused a power outage at the world's second-busiest airport.

The airport told passengers not to travel "under any circumstances." The fire at the North Hyde substation in West London has also left almost 5,000 homes without power, National Grid UK has said.

The full scale of the disruption at the airport is becoming apparent though, with data from flight tracking website Flightradar24 showing that at least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow could be cancelled today, the BBC reports.

A number of major airlines have released statements in response to the disruption. Here is what airlines have said about the closure:

United Airlines: “Seven United flights returned to their origin or to other airports, and Friday flights to London Heathrow are being cancelled. We are working with our customers to offer alternative travel options.”

Air India: “London Heathrow-bound AI129 from Mumbai is returning to Mumbai; AI161 from Delhi is diverting to Frankfurt. All our remaining flights to and from London Heathrow, including AI111 of this morning, have been cancelled for 21 March.”

Aer Lingus: “Cancelling all flights to and from London Heathrow Airport until further notice today following the closure of the airport by the authorities.”

Virgin Atlantic: “This has had a significant impact on our flying programme both into and out of Heathrow and all Virgin Atlantic arriving and departing flights are cancelled until midday on 21 March, with the rest of today’s schedule currently under review.”

Qantas: “Our Singapore-London and Perth-London services were diverted to Paris today, with buses arranged to take customers on to London.”

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday morning,  Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the outage was an "unprecedented event" caused by a "catastrophic fire" at the substation.

He said the fire "appears to have knocked out a back-up generator as well as a substation itself."

"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," he added.

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