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Home » Blog » AllClear News » Heathrow airport power outage: Information for policyholders

Heathrow airport power outage: Information for policyholders

A major fire at an electrical substation in Hayes, West London, has caused significant disruption to Heathrow Airport and the surrounding area. This is an evolving situation, follow our live...

Letitia Smith
Travel Insurance Expert
Last updated March 25 2025
5 min read

A major fire at an electrical substation in Hayes, West London, has caused significant disruption to Heathrow Airport and the surrounding area. This is an evolving situation, follow our live blog for updates.

21-03-2025 09:48 GMT

Heathrow Airport has been closed until midnight tonight (21 March 2025) due to a massive power outage caused by the fire. At least 1,351 flights to or from Heathrow today will be directly impacted, with significant disruption expected.

Passengers have been advised not to travel to the airport “under any circumstances” until it reopens

 

The closure of Heathrow, which handles a plane landing or taking off approximately every 45 seconds, is expected to have significant repercussions for global flight schedules in the coming days.

If you are an AllClear policyholder yet to travel

  • Contact your airline or tour operator for details in the first instance. We have added some useful links at the end of this article. There is no cover under our policies for delay or cancellation caused by airport closure due to a power outage.
  • If you’re changing the dates of your trip, you can contact us to change cover dates to a new date that is within 30 days of your original departure date. This change will be free of charge.

If you are an AllClear policyholder abroad

  • Our customer care team are fully briefed and here to help and guide you if you’re abroad and concerned about your travel plans.
  • Cover will be extended free of charge for 7 days if you’re stuck abroad and currently unable to get home due to this event.

22-03-2025 10.00 GMT

Heathrow is operational again but passengers should still check flight details with their airline.

Useful links

Heathrow airport
Alert and updates from Heathrow’s Twitter/X feed

 

Letitia Smith
Travel Insurance Expert

Letitia is a Travel Insurance expert with more than 20 years experience in science and medical communication and helping people find specialist insurance. As Head of Communications at AllClear, she brings in-depth knowledge on medical cover. Letitia cares about supporting people with medical conditions to travel with confidence.

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