Mideast airlines cancel flights as outage closes Heathrow Airport

LONDON — The Middle East’s three biggest carriers — Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways — have canceled flights to and from London’s Heathrow Airport after it remained closed Friday due to a power outage caused by a fire at a nearby substation.

Flights operated by EgyptAir, Gulf Air, Oman Air, Royal Air Maroc, Turkish Airlines and Saudia were also disrupted.

At least 1,357 flights were scheduled from Heathrow Friday, according to aviation data platform Cirium.

What happened: A blaze broke out at a substation in nearby Hayes in West London Thursday evening and caused a power outage across the airport. Disruptions are expected to continue into the weekend, with around 220,000 passengers impacted by the cancellations on Friday alone. Online flight tracking website FlightRadar24 reported that all Friday's scheduled 679 arrivals and 678 departures would be affected by the incident.

"We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens," Heathrow Airport said in a statement.

Counterterrorism officials are investigating whether the inferno was caused deliberately, though at this early stage, it's believed to be an accident and there are no recorded injuries. 

Heathrow is a key transit hub and served a record 83.9 million passengers last year, with a plane landing or taking off around every 45 seconds. 

Emirates

On its X account, UAE carrier Emirates Airline apologized for the inconvenience and wrote that it had canceled six flights to and from Dubai. Passengers connecting for flights to London Heathrow will not be accepted for travel until further notice at the point of origin, it stated.

“We're monitoring the situation closely and will update our customers as the situation develops,” Emirates said, adding that customers should check the company's website for updates, offering the option to rebook or travel later.

Forty-seven Emirates flights travel through Heathrow each week and disruptions for travelers are likely to be felt for days. 

Etihad

The Abu Dhabi-based carrier said it had so far canceled four flights between London and Abu Dhabi. Friday’s EY61 service from Abu Dhabi to London Heathrow was forced to divert to Germany’s Frankfurt Airport.

Qatar Airways

Writing on X, the Doha-based airline said it canceled eight flights between London and the Qatari capital. The airline operates 56 flights through Heathrow each week.

"Qatar Airways is working closely with LHR airport officials. Passengers impacted due to above will be taken care of by our customer care and airport teams," the airline stated.

Turkish Airlines

Amid the outage, the Turkish flag carrier canceled 10 flights between Istanbul airport and Heathrow, according to the airport's website. 

Heathrow Airport is the top UK destination for Turkish Airlines, with 45 weekly departures from Istanbul.

Other airlines

EgyptAir canceled six flights to and from Heathrow from the Egyptian capital Cairo, according to the airport's website.

Saudi Arabia's national airline Saudia canceled 10 flights to and from the capital Riyadh and Jeddah to Heathrow on Friday, according to the airport's website. Six of those were Riyadh flights and four were Jeddah flights.

Algeria's Air Algerie also canceled an arrival and departure between Algiers and Heathrow on Friday. 

Israel's El Al Airlines canceled a departure from Heathrow to Tel Aviv-Yafo Airport.