A police helicopter was the only vehicle visible in the sky above Heathrow airport on Friday, as the regular drone of flights went silent after a fire at a power station shuttered Europe’s busiest airport.
On the ground, dozens of confused, stranded passengers stood around with their suitcases outside airport hotels. Many who AFP spoke to complained about the cost of shifting their bookings and a lack of information from Heathrow or airlines.
For veteran athlete Kevin Dillon, 70, Heathrow’s day-long closure meant he would miss the opening ceremony of the World Masters Athletics Championships in Florida.
The runner, sporting a Great Britain tracksuit, said he had come from Manchester to catch his flight so he could compete.
The authorities are facing questions over how the fire at the electricity substation left such a crucial piece of national infrastructure closed for the day.
“I’m just surprised they didn’t have a backup system,” Dillon said.
Jake Johnston, from Los Angeles, was set to travel back to the United States on Friday but his airline, Virgin Atlantic, has rebooked his flight for Monday.
The 24-year-old said he and his friends were lucky: they found hotels for around GBP150 a night ($194).
Since then, several passengers have complained of airport hotels jacking up prices. According to Johnston, when he checked again later, hotel prices had risen to around GBP600.
Bolaji N’gowe was not so optimistic. He was on his way home to Canada after visiting his mother in Lagos, Nigeria, when his flight was diverted from Heathrow to Gatwick airport, south of London.
“I have been in Gatwick since 4:00 am (0400 GMT),” he told AFP at the UK’s second-busiest airport, which accepted some flights bound for Heathrow, while others were diverted to Paris, Madrid, Frankfurt and other European cities.
“I’m trying to book another flight… I’m trying to call Air Canada, no one is answering the phone,” said N’gowe, adding that the earliest flight he had found was for Sunday.
“Between the ticket and the hotel, I have to spend more that GBP1,500,” he added.
Talia Fokaides was meant 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 and found a flight to the Greek capital for midday.
“I don’t care about the money, I just need to be on a flight and home by the end of the day,” Fokaides told AFP, her voice shaking with emotion.
“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.”
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 around 230,000 passengers daily and 83 million every year.
Mohammed al-Laib, a Tunisian national who works in London, was supposed to go to Dubai to be reunited with his wife, whom he had not seen in months.
Heading to the information desk at Gatwick, he said he did not know if another flight would be available.
“I feel powerless,” he said.
Meanwhile, 28-year-old Muhammad Khalil had been waiting at London’s Paddington station since early morning looking for alternative flights to Pakistan.
He had so far been unsuccessful, with Heathrow the main airport in the UK for long-haul international flights.
Khalil had also hoped to be reunited with his wife after five months. He 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.”
Callum Burton, 21, from Kent in southern England, was stranded at Newark airport near New York after visiting his girlfriend for his 21st birthday.
Burton told AFP via social media that his flight had boarded and was ready to depart before it was rescheduled for 15 hours later, then cancelled.
He was not expecting to leave until Sunday or Monday, and said that he was “very tired and disappointed”.
AFP
