Summary

'No comment': Heathrow boss asked if he should stay in job

Live Reporting

Edited by Matt Spivey

  1. 'Dozens of planes' scattered around the world as Heathrow resumes operations - travel expert

    Stranded passengers sit in chairs at Heathrow Terminal 3 in London.PA Media

    A little earlier our colleagues at Radio 5 Live heard from travel journalist Simon Calder.

    He says that British Airways are the worst-affected airline from yesterday's shutdown and have "dozens of planes" scattered around the world "from Reykjavik in Iceland all the way to Bavaria".

    He explains that overnight British Airways cancelled half a dozen long-haul departures, as well as the corresponding in-bound flights. That's affected routes to destinations including Chicago, Boston and Dubai.

    There has also been a number of short haul cancellations - but not as many as British Airways was warning might happen last night.

    Globally, he says, around 10,000 passengers are affected today on top of yesterday's total. For those experiencing delays, Calder says the rules are "clear" - passengers have to be rebooked "as soon as possible".

    The travel expert adds: "it’s costing the airlines £100m just in lost revenue - but on top of that you have the emotional cost which in incalculable".

  2. Ripple effect from Heathrow's closure felt around Europe

    Anna Holligan
    Reporting from Schipol Airport in Amsterdam

    A photo taken behind a flower bed. The entrance to the airport is to the right and the highway to the leftAnna Holligan

    Schipol airport this morning

    A number of departure boards seen overhead as a woman pushes a luggage trolley walking beneath themAnna Holligan

    Thousands of people had an unexpected stopover here in the Netherlands - seven long haul flights that were already airborne when the news from Heathrow came through were diverted here.

    But the knock on effect was felt across the continent - with diversions also to Paris and Frankfurt.

    All those thousands of passengers will be hoping to complete their journeys to their intended final destination today.

    It’s not just passengers who ended up in the wrong place, flight crews and planes have ended up in some unexpected locations.

    They all need to be repatriated.

    This has really highlighted the interconnected nature of global aviation and the vulnerabilities in terms of critical infrastructure.

    And it will inevitably make airports like Schiphol check their own back up mechanisms.

    Heathrow was the epicentre but there’s been a ripple effect right across the globe.

  3. Just a 30-minute delay on my flight to Heathrow from Singapore

    Suranjana Tewari
    Asia business reporter

    I’ve landed in Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 3 - sleepy six-year-old in tow - after my 15-hour flight from Singapore.

    It was a smooth flight with no major delays or diversions. When we disembarked, passport control was empty, and our luggage made it swiftly to the carousel.

    Yesterday, I worried that my Qantas flight might be cancelled entirely - but we were delayed just 30 minutes from our expected departure time.

  4. Heathrow Airport 'fully operational' today - spokesperson

    Passengers at Heathrow Terminal 5 station in London.PA Media

    We can bring you a new update from Heathrow Airport, as flights begin to take off.

    A Heathrow spokesperson says: "We can confirm that Heathrow is open and fully operational today. Teams across the airport continue to do everything they can to support passengers impacted by yesterday's outage at an off-airport power substation."

    The spokesperson adds that "hundreds" of additional staff are on hand in the airport today and says "we have added flights to today's schedule to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers travelling through the airport".

    They add that travellers are advised to check their flight status with their airline before heading out.

  5. Planes take off as Heathrow resumes morning service

    We've been keeping an eye on the boards at Heathrow and can confirm that those three planes due to take off at 06:00 have done so with minor delays.

    London Heathrow to Zurich took off 11 minutes after its 06:00 GMT departure time and London Heathrow to Madrid took of six minutes after its 06:10 departure time. A Heathrow to Lisbon flight scheduled for 06:00 is also in the air, taking off with a 23-minute delay.

    Only three flights before 09:00 GMT are currently showing as cancelled on the morning departure boards.

  6. Gates are closing as it's nearly wheels up at Heathrow

    Here in the London newsroom, we're closely following the departure boards at Heathrow.

    The gates are now closed for all three of the first flights set to take-off from the airport this morning.

    Later flights - departing at 06:05 and 06:10 - are also closing their doors.

    It's an optimistic start for the morning.

  7. Final call for Heathrow's first flights of the morning

    It's approaching 06:00 in London and the first planes of the day are shortly due to take-off from Heathrow following the total closure of the airport in chaos yesterday.

    Three flights - a Tap Air bound for Lisbon, an Austrian Airways to Vienna and a Swiss Airlines flight to Zurich - are all expected to depart on time.

    Just one of the first 20 flights of the day set to take-off has been cancelled, according to Heathrow - the 06:35 to Istanbul via Turkish Airlines.

    Eight planes were allowed to depart yesterday evening - all long-haul journeys.

  8. Nine planes due to arrive at Heathrow this morning cancelled

    At 04:45 this morning, the first planes of the morning began to arrive at Heathrow after the chaos of yesterday - however a hangover remains.

    Of the first 20 flights of the day, nine were cancelled. They were meant to have been arriving from all over the world - Singapore, Doha, New York, Nairobi and Lagos were just a few of the departure cities.

    Heathrow is aiming for "full operation" today, chief Thomas Woldbye has said - though British Airways estimated 85% of its planned flights would run, but with delays throughout.

  9. A timeline of how the day unfolded

    A woman sits on a chair under a yellow sign at Heathrow Airport that says Lifts to Terminal 5, Departures, Check-in. She is wearing a black skirt, brown coat, and black headphones. She has a black suitcase next to her.Getty Images

    It's been 24 hours since emergency crews were called to a fire at a substation in west London, which led to the complete closure of Heathrow Airport.

    Here's a timeline of what happened:

  10. Was your flight disrupted? Here's what you need to know

    A woman stands next to a trolley carrying suitcases outside Heathrow Terminal 4Getty Images

    Flights to and from Heathrow have now started again after the airport was shut due to a fire at a nearby electrical substation.

    But there could still be some disruption in the coming days.

    So what are your rights if your journey has been affected?

    And can you get your money back?

    Business reporter Shanaz Musafar explains everything you need to know.

  11. Watch: Resident recalls moment substation exploded

    Dozens of homes were evacuated after a fire broke out at a substation near Heathrow late on Thursday night.

    Residents in Hayes say they saw flames and smoke from their homes during the night.

    Savita Kapur told the BBC she heard a "loud bang" and saw "this thing on fire".

    'It looked like it was daylight,' Savita Kapur says

  12. British Airways: 85% of Saturday's flights to run, but likely delays for all

    British Airways says it expects 85% of its Saturday schedule at Heathrow to run, but that "it is likely that all travelling customers will experience delays".

    In a statement tonight, the airline says it is 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 will be contacting all affected customers to advise them of their options, and we thank them for bearing with as work through these solutions," it says.

  13. Late-night flights land at Heathrow

    A plane is seen in the darkness of night landing at Heathrow Airport. You can see a few planes on the tarmac that are parked by the terminalPA Media

    A plane lands at Heathrow Terminal 5 in London

    We're continuing to see pictures of flights touching down on the runway at Heathrow, making the passengers travelling on board some of the first to land at the international traffic hub after a day of disruption.

    More flights will hopefully be taking off and landing there in the next 24 hours, as the airport says it hopes to run a full service on Saturday.

  14. Flights from six continents are on their way to Heathrow

    Flights from six continents are on their way to Heathrow, with most expected to land in the early hours of Saturday, according to tracking website Flightradar24.

    Three British Airways flights – from Hong Kong, Sao Paulo and Johannesburg – are en route to Heathrow, while Qantas expects its flight from Perth to arrive in London just after 06:00 GMT on Saturday.

    A United Airlines flight from San Francisco is due around 07:00 GMT tomorrow, and a short-haul Qatar Airways service from Frankfurt will be landing at Heathrow this evening.

  15. Watch: How was Heathrow taken out of action

    Watch below as BBC Verify's Nick Beake explains how Europe's busiest airport was brought to a standstill – and the global impact that followed.

    BBC Verify: How was Heathrow taken out of action

  16. American Airlines says all Heathrow flights set to go-ahead tomorrow

    We've just had a statement from American Airlines.

    It says it expects to run its full schedule of flights to and from Heathrow tomorrow.

    But - as always - it's advising customers to check their flight status before going to the airport.

  17. First flights take off from Heathrow
    Breaking
    Breaking

    A Flightradar24 map showing the route of BA259Flightradar24

    A British Airways flight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has left Heathrow.

    It's one of eight flights the airline said would depart from the airport this evening.

    Flight BA259 took off at 20:58 GMT.

  18. Transport secretary says investigation will be launched

    Transport Secretary Heidi AlexanderPA Media

    Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander says Heathrow’s resilience plans worked as intended to protect key systems at the airport.

    She says they were never designed to safeguard the entire energy supply for the whole airport.

    Alexander describes the fire at the electricity substation near Heathrow as an “unprecedented situation” beyond the airport’s control.

    But she says there will be an investigation into how the fire started and Heathrow’s decision to close operations for the day.

    She adds that counter-terrorism services will be involved because the fire happened so close to a critical infrastructure site.

  19. Analysis

    Cost-benefit analysis will continue after embarrassing failure

    Simon Jack
    Business editor

    A woman looks at a sign advising passengers not to travel to Heathrow airportGetty Images

    How can a single fire - at a single electricity source - knock out one of the world's major infrastructure hubs with disruption to hundreds of thousands of passengers and millions of tons of cargo?

    The International Airlines industry body head, and former boss of BA calls it a "clear planning failure", while the chair of the UK's National Infrastructure Commission says it highlights the need for standards of national resilience to be established. Meanwhile, Number 10 says there are clearly "questions to answer".

    No kidding.

    So called business continuity - or disaster recovery - plans keep many organisations top brass awake at night.

    Banks, data centres, stock exchanges, hospitals, all have contingency plans. Heathrow itself does have more than one source of power but as one insider told the BBC,this was a "particularly important" bit.

    But sometimes - like now - a chain is only important as its weakest link and having a whole extra - redundant most of the time - resource, costs money and Heathrow is a privately owned business.

    That kind of cost-benefit analysis will continue long after the passengers and cargo delayed by today's disruptive, and internationally embarrassing, failure have got where they are going.

  20. 'You can be pretty optimistic' but not all flights taking off tomorrow - Simon Calder

    Exterior shot of Heathrow Airport from just off the tarmac. A Virgin Atlantic plane is seen landing, with a row of BA planes parked in the background near the illuminated terminalGetty Images

    We've just heard from travel journalist Simon Calder, who warns that not all flights due to depart from Heathrow tomorrow will do so.

    Earlier, the airport's chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, said the hub will operate "as a normal day", but Calder tells BBC News some airlines have already cancelled flights.

    "We’re already seeing a couple of cancellations to Delhi on Air India and Air Canada," he says. "Virgin Atlantic have cancelled a Montego Bay departure, and there may be one or two others, but just a handful compared to 1,300 as we’ve seen today is something of a success."

    However, he says most travellers due to fly from Heathrow tomorrow and Sunday "can be pretty optimistic".