London's Heathrow Airport was closed for several hours due to a fire in a nearby power station, but operations resumed on Friday evening. It is Britain's largest airport and the world's fourth busiest. More than 4.5 lakh aircraft operate from this airport every year.
London's Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest airports, was closed for nearly 16 hours on Friday after a fire at a nearby electric substation disrupted its power supply. The airport resumed operations on Friday evening, with several flights landing at Heathrow Airport in the evening, The New York Times reported.
Heathrow Chief Executive Officer Thomas Woldby described the blockage and disruption at Britain's largest airport as 'unprecedented'. He said Heathrow would be back to 100 percent operations by Saturday, although airlines and passengers may face delays over the weekend due to the shutdown. Heathrow Airport is the fourth busiest airport in the world. Here are some interesting facts about it:
57 lakh passengers traveled from Heathrow in February 2025
According to a News18 report, Heathrow serves more than 230 destinations in about 90 countries. 90 airlines, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa, have made Heathrow their base. 57 lakh passengers traveled from Heathrow in February 2025. This was the busiest month of February so far. A total of 8 crore 41 lakh passengers traveled from here from March 2024 to February 2025.
Planning for a third runway
Heathrow has two main runways. The northern runway is 3,902 metres long and the southern runway is 3,658 metres long. The airport will present its plans for a third runway this summer. The British government has backed the project, as it is expected to boost business and economic growth.
Heathrow is operating at 99 per cent capacity and risks being overtaken by European rivals. Its two runways compare with the four each at Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt airports and the six at Amsterdam's Schiphol.
Who owns Heathrow Airport?
Heathrow Airport is owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings, whose owners include Ardian, the Qatar Investment Fund, and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
More than 4.5 lakh aircraft operate every year
Heathrow handles 4,75,000 aircraft operations every year. Most people travel to New York from here. More than 90,000 people work at Heathrow. It is Britain's largest single-site employer. The airport is named after Heathrow Village, which was previously located at almost the same location as Terminal 3. The airport began as a tented village in 1946. At that time, flights used to operate to 18 destinations from here and there were about 9,000 flights a year.
When did the first flight take off?
The first flight departed for Buenos Aires via Lisbon on New Year's Day 1946. This was the first refuelling stop on a long-haul flight, opening Britain's first air link with South America. Heathrow's first terminal opened in 1955 for short-haul flights. Originally known as the Europa Building, it is now known as Terminal 2.
Terminal 1 was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1969 and closed in June 2015. Terminal 3 was opened in 1961 and Terminal 4 in 1986. Terminal 5 opened in 2008. The public inquiry into its construction was the longest in British planning history, lasting nearly four years.