Passengers in London desperately searched for alternative flights to destinations from Pakistan to Athens after hundreds of journeys in and out of Heathrow airport were disrupted on Friday due to a power cut to the international travel hub.

Europe’s busiest airport was closed for the whole day after a major overnight fire at an electricity substation cut power to Heathrow airport.

At Gatwick airport, south of London, Talia Fokaides’s voice shook with emotion as she explained how she was supposed to leave London for Athens in the morning to be with her mother, who was due to undergo open-heart surgery.

When she heard Heathrow was closed, she rushed to Gatwick, the UK’s second busiest airport, and found a flight to Athens for midday (1200 GMT).

“I don’t care about the money I just need to be in a flight and home by the end of the day,” Fokaides told AFP.

“We were given no info, we were left on our own. I don’t understand how it’s possible,” she added. “I just need to be there.”

A passenger with her suitcase waits for news at Heathrow airport following its closure after a fire broke out at a substation supplying power of the airport, in Hayes, west London, on March 21, 2025. Britain’s Heathrow airport, Europe’s busiest, was shut down early on March 21 for 24 hours after a major fire at an electricity substation cut power to the sprawling facility west of London, officials said. (Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL / AFP)

People walk past a departure board displaying Singapore Airlines SQ318 flight to London Heathrow as cancelled at Singapore Changi Airport in Singapore on March 21, 2025. Britain’s Heathrow airport, Europe’s busiest, was shut down early March 21 after a major fire at an electrical substation supplying power to the sprawling facility west of London, officials said. (Photo by Roslan RAHMAN / AFP)

‘Powerless’

Mohammed al-Laib, a Tunisian national who works in London, was supposed to go to Dubai to be reunited with his wife whom he said he had not seen in months.

Heading towards the information desk at Gatwick, his outlook was bleak: “I don’t know if I’ll have another flight. I have no alternative now but wait. I feel powerless.”

Some 1,350 flights had been due to land or take off from Heathrow and its five terminals on Friday, according to the flight tracking website Flightradar24.

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports and usually handles some 230,000 passengers daily and 83 million every year.

Gatwick has said it would accept some flights bound for Heathrow. Others were diverted to European airports including Shannon in southwestern Ireland, Frankfurt, and Paris Charles de Gaulle.

However, four French flight passengers were left looking tired and confused after their long flight from Cape Town in South Africa to Heathrow landed at Gatwick.

They were meant to travel on to Nice but there are no flights to the southern French city from Gatwick.

The group, who did not share their names as they rushed to catch a bus instead, said they were not given much information about what to do.

(FILES) Passengers arrive with luggage at the Terminal 5 international arrivals hall at London Heathrow Airport in west London on February 14, 2021 . Britain’s Heathrow airport — Europe’s busiest — shut down early on March 21, 2025 after a major fire at an electricity substation cut power to the sprawling hub, causing disruption worldwide to hundreds of flights and thousands of travellers. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

(FILES) A Qatar Airways flight comes in to land at Heathrow airport in west London as the UK government’s planned 14-day quarantine for international arrivals to limit the spread of Covid-19 starts on June 8, 2020. Britain’s Heathrow airport — Europe’s busiest — shut down early on March 21, 2025 after a major fire at an electricity substation cut power to the sprawling hub, causing disruption worldwide to hundreds of flights and thousands of travellers. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP)

Meanwhile, 28-year-old Muhammad Khalil had been waiting at London’s Paddington station since 0530 GMT looking for alternative flights to Pakistan after his journey out of Heathrow was disrupted.

He had so far been unsuccessful, with Heathrow the main airport in the UK for long-haul international flights.

“I am trying to find another flight from Gatwick airport or Stansted but I don’t get any flight,” he said.

Khalil had hoped to be reunited with his wife after five months, and had been planning the trip for three months.

“I’ve spent so much money on tickets and everything. I had to take the day off from my job,” Khalil told AFP.

“You can’t imagine how stressful it is for me.”