As Heathrow Airport, Britain’s busiest travel hub, shut down on Friday because of a nearby fire and power outage, airlines told thousands of travelers not travel to the airport and to check online for updates.
About 80 airlines operate at Heathrow, and they were diverting inbound flights to others airports in Britain, elsewhere in Europe or sending them back to their origin, while scrambling to rebook journeys.
“This will clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers,” British Airways said in a statement. The airline had redirected all flights already on their way to Heathrow on Friday morning to other airports in Britain.
Virgin Atlantic, another British airline, said it had canceled all flights until 9:30 p.m. London time, “with the rest of today’s schedule currently under review,” it said in a statement.
The airline was asking customers to not travel to Heathrow or their scheduled departure airport if Heathrow was their destination and not to contact customer services. Instead, they said travelers should check their flight status on the airline’s website and people with canceled flights would be emailed rebooking details.
Air France had canceled eight return flights from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to Heathrow on Friday, but flights to other airports in Britain were operating as normal, the airline said.
KLM, a Dutch airline, said it had canceled three return flights from Amsterdam to London Heathrow and would rebook passengers. But the airline said that it would try to accommodate passengers with an “urgent need” to fly to London by placing them on flights to an airport near London.
Lufthansa, a German airline, said all customers on flights in and out of Heathrow have been rebooked, but it urged customers to keep their contact details updated.
Nine flights by Qatar Airways between Heathrow and Hamad International Airport near Doha, were affected. For example, one flight was redirected to Frankfurt and another to Brussels.
Air India had canceled most of its flights to Heathrow, though one returned to Mumbai and another was diverted to Frankfurt.
On their websites, most airlines say canceled flights are rebooked free of charge. Costs are likely to mount for airlines as they redirect flights and compensate customers for hotel rooms, food, transportation and other costs related to upended schedules.
On Friday, shares in IAG, the parent company of British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia and two other airlines, fell 2.5 percent.
