Heathrow will operate the first flight again at 7:00 p.m. local time.

LondonHeathrow management assured in the final minutes of this Friday afternoon that it is "now able to safely restart its flights" and British Airways assures that it will be able to operate the first aircraft at 7:00 p.m. local time. According to the statement shared on the X network, it also assures that it will prioritize "the repatriation and relocation of aircraft."

In fact, Heathrow is expected to be fully operational tomorrow. If British Airways' announcement this afternoon is finally confirmed, it will have brought forward the forecast made during the early hours of Friday, which was 11:59 p.m. tonight, to recover activity by five hours. The first flights will depart for Johannesburg, Singapore, Riyadh, Cape Town, Sydney via Singapore, and Buenos Aires via Rio de Janeiro. And the arrival of flights from the continent will be prioritized.

Thomas Woldbye, Heathrow's chief executive, appeared before the media this afternoon and confirmed that tomorrow "we expect to be back up and running, just like a normal day." Why did it take hours to get back up and running once the blackout took down all systems? Basically, restarting them and ensuring they were working properly is a very slow process.

However, Woldbye assured that the airport is recovering "fairly quickly" given the number and quantity of systems involved—thousands." Heathrow has three substations with a backup transformer, but one of them also failed in the fire. "This is an unprecedented incident" that has caused a loss of power equivalent to that of a "medium-sized city," he said. What he didn't answer is why the airport's security and emergency systems are not sufficient to keep the infrastructure operational.

In parallel, counter-terrorism police specialists are investigating the causes of the fire at an electrical substation in west London that forced the closure of Heathrow Airport on Friday and caused air chaos across Europe and partly around the world. While Scotland Yard assured that "at this time there is no evidence of possible sabotage," all hypotheses remain open. The involvement of the Counter Terrorism Command is a consequence of "the impact of this incident on critical infrastructure," the police say. It is the first time the airport has closed in fifteen years. The government spokesperson has assured that there are "questions to be answered" about how a single fire could have caused such chaos.

Local residents felt a huge explosion and then a fireball projected into the sky. When emergency crews arrived shortly after 1:30 a.m., they discovered a burning transformer with 25,000 liters of cooling oil.

Heathrow Airport is the second busiest in the world, with 84 million passengers annually. In Spain, Madrid-Barajas Airport has been the hardest hit by the knock-on effect of the situation, with the cancellation of 29 flights departing from or to Heathrow. El Prat Airport, meanwhile, has canceled 14 flights in total, six landings and eight takeoffs.

"To ensure the safety of passengers and staff, Heathrow will remain closed until 11:59 p.m. on March 21. We advise passengers not to travel to the airport and to contact their airline for further information," the airport's management posted on its social media platform.

The number of affected flights was ultimately 1,149. The schedule disruption has triggered a chain reaction of cancellations at other European and global airports. One hundred and nineteen flights have been diverted to other British and European destinations. It is estimated that between 210,000 and 220,000 passengers suffered the consequences of the fire.

The cause of the fire, which started around midnight and has also left thousands of homes—about 16,000 in west London—without power, is currently unknown. It could take several days for Heathrow to return to normal. The airline most affected by the closure is British Airways, whose main hub is Terminal 5. It was scheduled to operate 670 flights this Friday and over the weekend.

Although the power supply is beginning to recover, as already mentioned, and activity is sure to partially resume this Saturday, what is also guaranteed is that normal operations will not be possible. Foreign airlines, such as Emirates, Lufthansa, Air France, and Air Canada, will likely be able to carry out most of their planned operations. However, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will suffer for much of next week from the fact that pilots, aircraft, and cabin crews have been stranded across Europe, Asia, and the United States. In this sense, the long-haul network will be the most affected.

The London Fire Brigade reported in a statement that ten engines and around seventy personnel were deployed to extinguish a "major fire" at an electrical substation in Hayes, near Heathrow, where a transformer burned. The blaze is currently ongoing. According to eyewitnesses reported on social media, a large explosion was heard before the flames were seen. However, these reports have not yet been officially confirmed.

Around 150 people have had to be evacuated, and a 200-meter safety perimeter has been established around the electrical substation as a precautionary measure. Assistant Fire Commissioner Pat Goulbourne said: "This is a highly visible and significant incident, and our firefighters are working tirelessly in difficult conditions to bring the blaze under control as quickly as possible."