Hong Kong’s Cathay warns against travel to London after fire closes Heathrow

All Cathay flights scheduled to take off from London on Friday and land in Hong Kong on Saturday have been cancelled.

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Firefighters battle the blaze near London’s Heathrow Airport. Photo: AP

Published: 1:11pm, 21 Mar 2025Updated: 11:07pm, 21 Mar 2025

Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has urged passengers to avoid non-essential travel to London, as a power outage at Heathrow Airport following a huge fire at a nearby electrical substation was expected to have a “significant impact” on operations.

The fire, which forced the British air hub to close on Friday, has thrown international travel into chaos, with passengers from Hong Kong and elsewhere complaining about extra hotel costs and disruptions to their plans.

According to British media, some power has been restored at Heathrow, but terminals 2 and 4 remain without power.

The carrier said on its website the closure of the London airport was expected to have “significant impact” on operations, and Heathrow had no estimation on when the airport would fully resume operations.

“As a result of this closure, we strongly advise passengers to cancel any non-essential travel plans during this period,” the airline said, adding affected customers would receive an email with new flight details as soon as the information was available.

The Hong Kong Airport Authority told the Post at around 3pm it had been notified about the closure and 12 flights between Hong Kong and Heathrow Airport had been scheduled on Friday.