Air India flights among 1,351 affected by fire in London

An estimated 1,351 flights, including those operated by Air India, were cancelled or diverted Friday after London's Heathrow airport shut down for the day.

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This was after a fire at an electrical substation in the western part of the city triggered a widespread power outage.

There is no word yet on when power will be restored to the airport, authorities told the sources.

Apart from chaos at Heathrow - one of the busiest airports in the world and largest of five serving London and nearby areas - more than 16,000 homes in the UK capital lost power.

As many as 120 flights were in the air over Heathrow, either having just taken off or about to land.

Among those due were the AI129 service from Mumbai and the AI161 from Delhi. The former will return and the latter has been diverted to Frankfurt in Germany, the Indian carrier said in a statement.

Flights to and from London's Gatwick, however, will be unaffected, and the airport, which is about 60km southeast of Heathrow, has said it will accept flights diverted from Heathrow.

The Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam said half of the day's 30 flights to and from Heathrow today had been cancelled. So far, one flight has been diverted to Schiphol, it said on X.

Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has also cancelled all its flights. It had six scheduled from Hong Kong to Heathrow for today. One service - CX257 - had already left and has been recalled