TORONTO – Several arriving and departing flights between cities across Canada and London’s Heathrow Airport have been cancelled after an overnight fire caused a power outage and forced the British airport to close for the day.
As of early Friday, Toronto’s Pearson airport listed at least five scheduled arriving flights from Heathrow as cancelled, as well as two departing flights. Airports in Vancouver and Montreal also listed multiple cancelled flights.
Those flights were among at least 1,300 flights to and from Heathrow that have been affected by the closure and have been diverted or cancelled, according to flight tracking service FlightRadar 24.
Heathrow said Thursday that a fire at an electrical substation that supplies power to the airport caused the outage. The London Fire Brigade said the fire was contained but firefighters would remain on scene throughout Friday.
The airport said it expects “significant disruption” over the coming days, and passengers should not travel to Heathrow. The closure has disrupted the travel plans of about 200,000 people who were expected to travel through Heathrow on Friday.
Air Canada said Friday that six of its flights on Thursday were diverted mid-air while a seventh was cancelled before departing. Those flights included some from routes through Toronto, Montreal and Calgary.
The airline said it has cancelled 16 flights in total, including return flights from London, and the airline is waiting on more information from Heathrow on scheduled flights for Friday evening.
Air Canada said it has rerouted some customers to other European gateways and is helping passengers bound for London to change their travel plans.
Police in London said there was no indication of foul play in the fire, but counterterrorism detectives are leading the investigation that shut down the airport.
Heathrow was Europe’s busiest airport last year, with 83.6 million passengers travelling through it.
— With files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2025.
