London's Heathrow airport is closed until midnight GMT after a fire at an electricity substation in the local area caused a "significant" power outage, hitting more than 1,000 slights and 16,000 homes, officials said on Friday.
Flights that were already enroute to the west London airport were forced to divert, according to the specialist website Flightradar24. Video footage show an enormous blaze at the substation in Hayes, west London.
Passengers have been told not to travel to the airport "under any circumstances" and warned "significant disruption" is expected in the coming days.
British Airways, which had 341 flights scheduled to land at Heathrow on Friday, said the fire would "clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers, and we are working as quickly as possible to update them on their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond".
All departing and arriving Virgin Atlantic flights have been cancelled until midday on 21 March, the airline said.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com