Heathrow Airport is shut until Friday night

[Ozgirl76]

And my husband is due to fly home to Australia on Friday evening. I predict chaos.
Airport is saying that people should not travel to Heathrow and should contact their airlines.

I expect there's a big difference between having enough back up sources to run basic operations and enough to operate safely for passengers. It takes something like the equivalent of 100,000 homes to power the whole airport.

If it was sabotage they would have taken down the air traffic control system or similar.

Maybe put away the tinfoil hats.

I know that people have to see conspiracy in everything, but sometimes shit does just happen, y’know?

And for the poster saying we’re at war, no. We’re not.

Thank you for the special insight into the mind of a state-sponsored bad actor. We are so lucky to have you.

How exactly do you know so definitely?

And for the poster saying we’re at war, no. We’re not.

Yeah, we are. Or at least Russia is engaged in war on Europe and the UK.

No idea if it’s Russia or not but cannot see how targeting ATC would be any more effective than this. And I absolutely do think we are in a Cold War.

It's blatantly Russia. Just like the cargo ship happening to hit a ship full of fuel for the USAF.

There’s probably a well-rehearsed protocol in place with tickboxes about what needs to happen and when, so a headache but well choreographed and planned.

What a logistical nightmare this will be. It will take days to sort as others have said.

Apparently 16,000 homes are without power too. And presumably businesses etc.

That’s insane. It’s going to affect millions of people’s lives. Sometimes this really doesn’t feel like a developed country.

Agreed. One of my colleagues (who spent 10 years working in both Russia and Ukraine) says we are in 'pre-war'. You only have to look at what other European countries are doing- issuing advice in the event of nuclear attack or attack by Russian ground forces.

She thinks WW3 in inevitable.

I was caught in the Icland volcanic outbreak 14 years ago. We were stuck for over 1 week - luckily on a business trip to our HO- so all costs were covered and we actually managed to work.

It's more the unknown which is stressing, when can you go again, where can you fly to.

But - it's not just easy to divert, another airport has to have space so often it's easier to turn around. DH was once diverted from Heathrow to Hannover in Germany thanks to ice.

We’re flying in the morning but no idea if it’s happening 😭

I agree but it’s utterly terrifying. If the US aligns with Russia the world as we know it is over. Trump certainly wants that.

Airlines are scrambling to reroute, Gatwick is taking what they can, my friend has just been told that she’s being routed through Birmingham. The fire isn’t out yet so they can’t even start repairing.

Oh come on. Do you REALLY think BA doesn’t have disaster protocols?

They need to figure out where all their planes have landed, how quickly they can get them to where they need to be, and what additional
flights they can offer, including finding additional staffing, pilots and catering. You can’t just take off/land ad-hoc as airports sell departure/landing slots well in advance, so additional slots need to be co-ordinated.

There’s a wee bit more to sort out than a booking link 🙄

There will be.

As for diversion options as someone upthread pointed out some airports don’t have runways long enough/strong enough to take certain types, and if you end up with mass diversions your alternates can end up running out of parking room PDQ.

Hence you end can end up with aircraft scattered over a lot of Europe (in this case) and aircraft returning to point of origin.

Inflight WiFi has been a thing for years!!

and some airports dont have enough fuel to take the diversions

In the channel?

Oh come on here we go with the inevitable internet conspiracy theories. There was a fire at an electrical substation a few miles away in Hayes. These things happen and there are contingency plans to ensure everyone's safety. People love to make it more dramatic than it already is.

Yes and it will likely be a war of disruption. We are annoying them currently quite a lot so this kind of thing will be the result.

well it is quite dramatic for passengers, airline staff, people living in the area.

Don’t be annoying it was first thing in the morning and I had the stress of our flights to deal with, I am not going to be worried about auto correct am I. Are you always this irritating.

I due to fly to Thailand tomorrow to volunteer for a charity, long planned trip I have specialised skill set and other volunteers can’t be trained to carry out their role without me. Frustrating. Hopefully airline will get plans in place today and I can advise the charity when to expect me.
Yes this is the much needed adult gap year.

Starting a fire and disrupting flights is a lot less ‘out there’ than things Russia have already done on UK soil.