Moment Heathrow substation explodes in massive fireball sparking 18-hour airport shutdown & mass blackouts
THIS is the moment a Heathrow substation explodes in a massive fireball sparking an 18-hour airport shutdown and mass blackouts.
Footage caught on a home security camera shows the explosion erupt from behind a row of bungalows in Hayes, west London.
The video shows a blinding explosion followed by a towering column of smoke, with sparks scattering in all directions.
It took place at the electrical substation in Nestles Avenue on Thursday evening but caused travel chaos at Heathrow Airport for days to come.
The house which caught the footage is believed to be about 1,500 feet (500 m) from the substation.
Over 1,300 flights were cancelled and at least 200,000 passengers impacted.
Flights have since resumed after the huge inferno caused the airport to lose power.
However, thousands of passengers remain in limbo as only a handful of British Airways flights were able to depart on Friday evening.
Heathrow’s boss apologised on Friday, admitting backup generators were never powerful enough to run the airport as mass cancellations ensued.
Thomas Woldbye described the blaze as “as big as it gets for our airport”.
More flights will hopefully be taking off and landing in the next 24 hours, as the airport tried to run a full service today.
Heathrow chief Mr Woldbye added: “We expect to be back in full operation (tomorrow), so 100% operation as a normal day.
“(Passengers) should come to the airport as they normally would. There’s no reason to come earlier.”
British Airways, which has a major presence at Heathrow, said it expects to operate around 85 per cent of its scheduled flights at the airport today.
The airline would usually expect to run nearly 600 departures and arrivals on Saturday but it is understood cancellations will be made, where possible, to high-frequency routes.
A spokesman said: “We are planning to operate as many flights as possible to and from Heathrow on Saturday, but to recover an operation of our size after such a significant incident is extremely complex.
“We expect around 85% of our Saturday Heathrow schedule to run, but it is likely that all travelling customers will experience delays as we continue to navigate the challenges posed by Friday’s power outage at the airport.”
The Metropolitan Police are not treating the incident as suspicious and the London Fire Brigade’s investigation is focusing on the electrical distribution equipment.