Heathrow has been hit by flight chaos after a fire erupted, causing one of its runways to close.
It has been confirmed that a grass fire broke out next to Heathrow’s southern runway, with flights being delayed at the UK’s busiest airport.
Images posted of social media show smoke rising from near the runway.
An account dedicated to Heathrow runway updates wrote on X just before 6pm: “Due to a grass area fire 27L has had to be temporarily closed and therefore we will be 27R single runway operations until further notice.”
Flight departures were suspended as consequence, Aviation News UK said.
Almost an hour later, the Heathrow Runways account wrote on X: “We are now expecting to get runway 27L back at 18:45hrs.
“We’ll be departing on the southern runway 27L and arriving on runway 27R. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
It is understood 18 flights were diverted due to the grass fire.
The fire created delays at the busy London airport | PA
GB News’s Alex Armstrong was caught up in the chaos, posting on social media his flight had been diverted to Manchester due to the fire.
He wrote on Facebook: “Fire at Heathrow Airport so I’m being diverted to Manchester.
“Sadly I won’t make it to the Essex show tonight, but hope you all enjoyed the coverage of our lovely members in Aberdeen today!”
Another person on social media said that “pretty much all flights” were delayed.
A Heathrow spokesman confirmed the fire has been extinguished
|
GETTY
A Heathrow spokesman said: “Earlier our teams responded to a small grass fire adjacent to the southern runway.
“The fire has been extinguished, both runways are operational and flights continue to arrive and depart from the airport.
“We apologise for any disruption caused as a result or while emergency services completed their safety checks but this was essential to ensure the safety of our passengers and colleagues, which is paramount.”
This comes after a Virgin Atlantic engineer, Georgie Buxton, died following a horror incident at Heathrow.
He was crushed inside crushed inside a Boeing 787’s fuel tank while carrying out maintenance checks.
The 23-year-old was placed in intensive care for four weeks before life support was withdrawn earlier this month, with an inquest into his death due to open at West London Coroner’s Court this week.
A source close to the airline said it was not immediately clear what had caused the collapse.
The jet involved has since been grounded, they said, and questioned how “heavy metal” could fall from aircraft machinery without the plane being taken out of service.
Mr Buxton, who had joined Virgin Atlantic two years ago after previously working at Ryanair, was placed in intensive care for four weeks before life support was withdrawn earlier this month.
An inquest into his death was opened at the end of July.
Virgin Atlantic said it was “heartbroken” to confirm the death of the “much-loved” member of its engineering team, adding it is working closely with the relevant authorities and Boeing to establish the facts of the incident.
Heathrow Airport also passed on its condolences, saying its thoughts were with Buxton’s family, friends and colleagues across Virgin Atlantic.