Several flights take off from Heathrow Airport after shutdown leads to travel chaos

Several flights have now taken off from London’s Heathrow Airport after it was completely shut down following a power outage due to a nearby fire. It has led to massive disruption at one of the world’s busiest travel hubs, but Heathrow’s CEO said he expects the airport to be fully running by tomorrow morning.

Global travel impacted: Heathrow’s closure is expected to reverberate around the globe, affecting more than 1,300 flights in the coming days. An airline analytics firm estimated that “upwards of 145,000” passengers could be impacted, while an aviation expert told CNN the airline industry could lose hundreds of billions of dollars.

Cause under investigation: The fire at an electrical substation near Heathrow that caused the power outage is not believed to be suspicious, “although enquiries do remain ongoing,” the Metropolitan Police said.

[Source: CNN]