Closure of Heathrow Airport in London disrupts travel at LAX
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The closure of London's Heathrow Airport due to a fire disrupted travel across the globe, including at Los Angeles International Airport, where many passengers were left stranded.
At least 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow were affected, flight tracking service FlightRadar 24 said, and the impact was likely to last several days as passengers try to reschedule their travel and airlines work to reposition aircraft and crews.
Authorities do not know what caused the fire but so far found have no evidence it was suspicious.
At LAX, four flights were canceled Thursday, while others were delayed or diverted. Long lines were seen throughout the airport Friday morning.
One man told Eyewitness News he was on his flight to London for about 3-4 hours, when the passengers were told the aircraft was turning back due to the fire at Heathrow.
"We're now trying to find hotels and other flights to get out of L.A. and back into the U.K.," he said.
Heathrow is one of the world's busiest airports for international travel. It had its busiest January on record earlier this year, with more than 6.3 million passengers, up more than 5% from the same period last year.
"We were on the plane, had dinner, ready to go to sleep, and then we got an announcement that we were turning around, back to L.A.," said Julie, a Whittier resident who declined to give her last name.
It was too early to determine what sparked the huge blaze about 2 miles from the airport, but there's "no suggestion" of foul play, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said.
The Metropolitan Police force said counterterrorism detectives were leading the investigation because of their ability to find the cause quickly and because of the location of the electrical substation fire and its impact on critical national infrastructure.
Heathrow said its backup power supply designed for emergencies worked as expected, but it was not enough to run the whole airport. It said it had no choice but to close the airport for the day.
"We expect significant disruption over the coming days, and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens," the airport said.
Heathrow had originally said it expected to reopen just before midnight, but anticipated "significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens."
After Heathrow announced it would reopen, British Airways said it was cleared for eight long-haul flights to depart from Heathrow after 7 p.m. United Airlines said it expected to operate most of its Friday departures to London.
The first plane landed at Heathrow Airport late Friday, about 18 hours after the inferno shuttered Europe's busiest air travel hub.
The British Airways jet touched down just before sunset after Heathrow lifted its closure order that disrupted global travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Even with flights resuming, it will take several days to mobilize planes, cargo carriers, and crews and rebook passengers, said aviation consultant Anita Mendiratta.
"It's not only about resuming with tomorrow's flights, it's the backlog and the implications that have taken place," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
