Heathrow Airport will return to 100% “as normal days” on Saturday, the head of the main transport hub said Friday. Officials believe the fire that knocked offline at the UK airport is suspect.
Inferno at a nearby high-voltage electronic substation caused a travel nightmare as it blew power at London airport early on Friday, cancelling more than 1,000 flights and stuck around 200,000 passengers.
After about 18 hours of eerie emptiness in a normally bustling facility, officials were optimistic that the worst was over.
“We expect to return to full operation tomorrow morning, so we're 100% operating as a normal day,” Heathrow Airport CEO Thomas Walby said at a local time news conference Friday evening.
“What I want to do is apologize to those who affected my trip during the day today. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.” He added.
Travelers scheduled to take off from Heathrow on Saturday will arrive in time for their flight. Some flights had flown into the airport later Friday after a full shutdown was lifted.
The delays from the closure continue to continue even when flights from the closure are up and running, as airlines need to prepare planes, cargo ships and crews while re-booking passengers, aviation consultant Anita Mendiratta said.
“It's not just a reopening with tomorrow's flight, it's a backlog and an impact that's happened,” she said.
The cause of the fire was not yet clear, but Metropolitan Police said I said “After the initial assessment, we have not treated the incident as suspicious.”
“Due to the location of the substation and the impact that this incident had on important national infrastructure, Met's counterterrorism command is leading an investigation into this issue,” Commander Simon Mescher said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin's allies have tried to incite international flames when Moscow claimed it was a fire.
“I look forward to Russia being blamed on the Heathrow fire. What are you waiting for, Starme?” Vice-Chairman of Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvede Tweeted for reference To British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer.
As of Friday evening, about 5% of the fire was still lit by isolated hotspots, Authorities said.
Nearby residents who had evacuated were also allowed to return home.
Approximately 67,000 customers initially lost power from the fire.
“Living near Heathrow is noisy. There are planes every 90 seconds, and there are constant traffic planes, but you're used to it.
“Not today. I can hear the birds sing.”
With post wire
