Heathrow Reopens After Major Blackout; Air India Flights To And From London Back On Track

After a day of unprecedented disruption, London’s Heathrow Airport is back in action, and Air India flights have resumed normal operations. The chaos began on Thursday night when a fire at an electrical substation caused a massive power outage. The disruption led to significant travel chaos and forced cancellations and delays for thousands of passengers. It affected flights from all over the world, including several from Air India.

Air India Flights To London Get Back On Course

The fire broke out just before midnight on Thursday and crippled Heathrow for most of Friday. The outage lasted nearly 24 hours and led to severe delays and rerouted flights. Many travellers were stranded and were searching for alternative accommodations. Finally, on Saturday morning, operations began to return to normal with some delays and cancellations.

Air India confirmed the return of its services to and from Heathrow on March 21. The airline currently operates six flights to the airport. According to The Economic Times reports, Flight AI111 operated on time, and AI161, which had been diverted to Frankfurt on March 21 due to the disruption, was set to depart Frankfurt at 2:05 pm IST on Saturday.

Approximately 2,00,000 passengers experienced travel disruptions as a result of the electric outage. Numerous flights operated by Air India also faced disruptions. Some passengers were forced to reschedule or modify their plans completely. However, the airline assured its passengers that future flights would proceed as scheduled.

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Heathrow Reopens After Fire-Induced Shutdown

The incident had revealed some weaknesses in the airport’s backup systems, according to a Heathrow spokesperson. Although preliminary police assessments have ruled out foul play, the London Fire Brigade is still investigating the cause of the fire, according to The Economic Times.

Approximately 4,000 tonnes of cargo were left stranded at Heathrow due to the closure of the airport. With 83.6 million passengers handled last year, Heathrow is still a key hub for international travel. Although other airports, such as Gatwick, can shoulder some of the strain, they couldn’t possibly make up for Heathrow’s closure.

Air India and other airlines are also making every effort to get back on track and make sure that the disruptions are behind them. The situation has returned to normal for Air India passengers and operations to Heathrow are finally operating smoothly.

Cover Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons