Virgin Atlantic reveals exact time Heathrow Airport passengers flying today should arrive
Virgin Atlantic has revealed what time Heathrow Airport passengers flying today should get there.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson took to social media today to reveal passengers due to arrive at the airport before 6pm today should not go. In a response to passenger Luke Armitage, who was due to travel on flight VS384 at 8pm tonight, the spokesperson told him not to drive to the airport.
In his post shared to X/Twitter, Mr Armitage said: “@VirginAtlantic we are due to fly at 8pm tonight VS384 we are travelling down from the North and need 5hrs to drive down when will we have an update please as we’ll need to leave at 12noon if flight going ahead. Thanks.”
In response, the Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “Hi there Luke, we are sorry about the disruptions caused by the fire. If you are due to arrive/depart LHR before 18:00( although this may change) then please don’t head to the airport and await a further update.”
More than 1,300 flights into and out of Heathrow Airport were disrupted following a fire at a nearby electrical substation. Online tracking services have shown flights being diverted to Gatwick, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris as well as Ireland’s Shannon Airport.
Flights from Canada and the US were also turned around mid-air and returned to the airports where they departed from. Flight US 146 from Newark, New Jersey, was among the first flights to have been affected by the chaos and was told to land in Ireland’s Shannon Airport. The fire at the electrical substation also left homes in the area without power with more than 100 people being evacuated when the transformer caught fire in west London.
Drone footage taken above the North Hyde substation, in Hayes, shows huge plumes of thick smoke billowing into the sky early this morning. The blaze continued, surging in intensity every now and then as the drone approached.
London Heathrow is the UK’s largest airport and serviced more than 83.9 million passengers who travelled through its terminals in 2024. A spokesperson for the airport previously said: ” Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage across the airport due to a large fire at a nearby electrical substation. Whilst fire crews are responding to the incident, we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored.
“To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 23h59 (11:59pm) on 21 March 2025. We expect significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.
“We will provide an update when more information on the resumption of operations is available. We know this will be disappointing for passengers and we want to reassure that we are working as hard as possible to resolve the situation.”
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