A day after operations at London’s Heathrow Airport were halted, Sri Lanka’s national carrier, SriLankan Airlines, has resumed flights to and from the busy European hub. The shutdown affected around 200,000 passengers, with 1,351 inbound and outbound flights grounded throughout Friday.
SriLankan Airlines’ flights, UL 505, UL 504, and UL 503, resumed normal operations yesterday. Today’s flights are also scheduled as planned.
The disruption began after a significant power outage at Heathrow, which prompted the airport to temporarily suspend operations until midnight on March 21.
The power failure was caused by a fire that broke out at the North Hyde plant in Hayes, West London, on Thursday evening. As a result, inbound planes were diverted to other European airports.
Heathrow’s Chief Executive, Thomas Woldbye, issued an apology to stranded passengers, acknowledging that the disruption was “as big as it gets for our airport.” He highlighted the challenges of fully preventing such incidents, adding that the airport could not “guard itself 100 percent.”
The fire, which occurred at a substation in West London, left around 16,000 homes without power. In addition, over 150 people were evacuated as a precaution. The London Fire Brigade responded with 10 fire engines and approximately 70 firefighters, while a 200-meter safety cordon was established. Local residents were advised to stay indoors and keep windows and doors closed due to the smoke from the fire.
