Operations at London’s Heathrow Airport have returned to normal following a major power outage that disrupted travel at Europe’s busiest airport.
The outage, caused by a fire at a nearby electrical substation on Friday, led to flight suspensions, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
Many were forced to find alternative flights and hotel accommodations.
A Heathrow spokesperson confirmed on Saturday that the airport had deployed hundreds of additional staff to assist
travelers.”We have added flights to today’s schedule to accommodate an extra 10,000 passengers traveling through the airport,” the spokesperson said.
The disruption has raised concerns about infrastructure resilience, with aviation experts questioning the lack of sufficient backup power.
Willie Walsh, head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and former British Airways CEO, criticized Heathrow’s handling of the crisis, calling it a planning failure.
To ease congestion, the UK’s Department for Transport temporarily lifted restrictions on overnight flights.
Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye assured travelers that full operations resumed on Saturday, and flights are now running on schedule.
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