Heathrow's Power Outage: A Real Mess
Okay, so you probably heard about the massive power outage at Heathrow on Friday, March 21st, 2025. Europe's busiest airport, completely shut down! Hundreds of thousands of people stranded. It was a bit of a nightmare, honestly.
What Happened? A Fire, Seriously.
Turns out, a fire at a nearby substation caused the whole thing. A transformer, apparently filled with a whole bunch of cooling oil, went up in flames. It's still under investigation by the Met Police, but they're not suspecting anything fishy. Honestly, who saw *that* coming?
The Chaos at Heathrow
Imagine the scene: Hundreds of flights cancelled, long-haul flights diverted to other airports…the whole place just grinding to a halt. It kinda felt like watching a slow-motion trainwreck. Passengers were everywhere, understandably stressed and confused. British Airways, being the biggest airline there, said they were aiming for about 85% of their scheduled flights on Saturday, but… you know how sometimes things just spiral?
Getting Back on Track
Heathrow is now back up and running, thankfully. They've added extra staff, thrown in some extra flights to try and catch up. The CEO, Thomas Woldbye, even said people should arrive at the airport as usual – no need to rush. But let’s be real, catching up from something like this will take time. British Airways, Air Canada, and United – they're all working hard to get everyone and everything back where it should be.
The Aftermath: Delays and Disruptions
Even though Heathrow’s open, things are still pretty hectic. Expect delays. Expect potential rescheduling. If you’re flying in or out of Heathrow in the next few days, please, please, please check your flight status with your airline *before* you even think about heading to the airport. Seriously, it'll save you a lot of hassle.
Lessons Learned? Probably.
This whole thing really highlights how vulnerable these massive airports are to things outside their direct control. One little fire, and the whole system almost collapses. It’s a reminder that our infrastructure, even the really important stuff, isn’t always as resilient as we might think. So yeah, keep an eye on those official updates and airline websites, just to be safe.
