Air India resumes flights at London-Heathrow airport

London, March 22 (IANS) A day after flights were grounded at the Heathrow airport, nation’s largest carrier Air India said on Saturday that its flights, to and from the Europe’s busiest airport, have resumed.

The shutdown caused inconvenience to as many as 200,000 passengers as at least 1,351 inbound and outbound flights were grounded throughout Friday.

In a statement, Air India said that its operations to and from London Heathrow (LHR) airport have “recommenced after the disruption at the airport yesterday due to a power outage”.

“Today’s flight AI111 was on schedule and other flights, to and from London, are expected to operate as per schedule. Flight AI161 of 21 March, which was diverted to Frankfurt, is expected to leave Frankfurt at 14:05 pm local time,” the airline added.

The carrier had temporarily suspended its flight operations from Heathrow as the airport announced a closure until March 21 midnight due to the power outage.

At least 37 daily flights from India to London’s Heathrow airport were disrupted, according to reports. Multiple direct flights connect Heathrow with cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai.

Earlier, inbound planes were diverted to other airports in Europe after flames ripped through the North Hyde plant in Hayes, west London, on Thursday evening.

The airport’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye apologised to stranded passengers and said the disruption was “as big as it gets for our airport” and that it could not guard itself “100 per cent”.

A fire in a substation in the western part of London led to a “significant power outage” and left over 16,000 homes without electricity. According to British media over 150 people were also evacuated.

The London Fire Brigade said it had deployed 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters and a 200-metre safety cordon was in effect. Local residents were told to stay inside and keep doors and windows closed because of the smoke.

–IANS

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