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Chaos in the skies: 'Nightmare' Heathrow shutdown in numbers

More than 1,300 flights have been directly affected, with almost 300,000 passengers facing serious disruption or left in limbo.

By Kate Schneider, data journalist, and Freya Gibson, junior OSINT producer

Friday 21 March 2025 20:52, UK

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Almost all flights due to arrive at and depart from London Heathrow were cancelled in the early hours of Friday morning, sending worldwide air transport into chaos.

The airport's announcement came after a fire broke out at an electrical substation in Hayes, about 1.5 miles north of the airport, shutting off power to the surrounding area.

By 7.45am, a time that usually sees about 200 planes bound for the airport on a typical Friday, the airspace above Heathrow had fallen silent.

As the world's second-busiest airport, the sudden flight cancellations at Heathrow have left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded around the globe.

More than 1,350 flights have been directly affected, both by cancellations and delays. About 680 outbound flights and roughly the same number of inbound flights were scheduled for Friday, although the vast majority were cancelled.

According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, these flights altogether were due to carry around 291,000 passengers.

Diversions leave passengers stranded

Most of the flights bound for Heathrow and due to land in the early morning were caught off-guard by the sudden closure, forcing them to divert mid-air to other destinations.

At least 117 of the 682 flights scheduled to land at Heathrow on Friday were diverted.

Forty-three of these flights were sent back to their original airport, while 74 flights landed in a host of locations around the world.

The highest number were diverted to London Gatwick Airport or to Amsterdam, a four-hour train ride from London, with seven planes landing at each airport.

Dozens of passengers were sent to other European airports like Madrid, Frankfurt, and Helsinki, as well as several American airports such as Washington Dulles International Airport. One flight was forced to land at Keflavik International Airport in Iceland.

'A nightmare on all accounts'

Rafa, who was on a British Airways flight from Dallas bound for Heathrow, told Sky News that passengers were turned around mid-flight and redirected to Washington DC.

Flight data from Flightradar24 shows Rafa's flight, BA192, only got to Canada before being diverted back to the US.

Although the average flight time from Dallas to London is eight-and-a-half hours, the diversion back to the US ended up as an eight-hour trip.

"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, adding that his experience has been a "nightmare on all accounts."

Flight data also shows a Japan Airlines flight departing from Tokyo at 16:21pm GMT, flying overnight for 11 hours, approaching London Heathrow, re-routing to Helsinki in Finland, and then landing at 5:51am GMT. This totalled over 13 hours of travel for its passengers.

Meanwhile, other flights from Boston, Toronto and Dallas were forced to land at the Goose Bay air force base in rural north-eastern Canada.

Over 40 flights between Heathrow and JFK cancelled

Passengers travelling between Heathrow and New York's John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport were the worst-affected by cancellations. JFK has historically been the top destination for outbound flights from Heathrow, running 146 flights on average per week, according to Flightradar24.

Today was no exception. Forty-four flights, including both inbound and outbound, running between Heathrow and JFK were previously scheduled to fly today before the cancellations were announced.

British Airways most affected

Nearly half of all the flights scheduled for today were operated by British Airways.

"As a result of a fire at a power station, which started in the early hours of this morning, we've been forced to effectively ground our flying operation, cancelling every short-haul and the majority of long-haul flights that were scheduled to operate throughout the day," British Airways CEO and chairman Sean Doyle said in a video posted to the airline's website.

"This is an unprecedented situation, and we have not seen a closure of Heathrow on this scale for many years," said Doyle. "Unfortunately, it will have a huge impact on all of our customers flying with us over the coming days."

Shipping and trade also affected

Heathrow's closure hasn't just affected passengers. Flight cancellations have also brought some global shipping operations to a halt.

Heathrow is the UK's largest port by value, with more cargo passing through it each day than all other UK airports combined.

In 2024, cargo worth a whopping £215.6bn passed through its terminals, according to the airport's published data.

And, 43% of the cargo, as measured in metric tonnes, that passed through Heathrow last month came from or was set for North American markets.

"The fire at Heathrow is extremely concerning for supply chain professionals around the country and the world," said Ben Farrell, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply.

"Supply chains work on a just in time basis and the whole operation is meticulously planned to ensure goods enter and exit the country in a timely fashion," added Mr Farrell. "With diversions in place and the airport shut for at least another day we will see millions of pounds worth of goods out of place leading to added costs for businesses."

Some disruption likely for coming days

Businesses won't be the only ones struggling to bounce back from the cancellations in the coming days.

Even once Heathrow returns to normal operations, stranded passengers around the globe will likely continue to scramble to find alternate ways to their destinations.

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