Airlines Deal With Aftermath As Heathrow Fully Reopens

Still some disruption to flights as carriers try to recover from airport shutdown after fire

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LONDON - London's Heathrow Airport resumed full operations on March 22, a day after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut Europe's busiest airport, causing global travel chaos.

Some flights were cancelled or delayed as the travel industry scrambled to reroute passengers and fix battered airline schedules after the huge fire at an electrical substation serving the airport.

Resumed flights had begun on the evening of March 21, but the shuttering of the world's fifth-busiest airport for most of the day left tens of thousands searching for scarce hotel rooms and replacement seats while airlines tried to return jets and crew to bases.

Operations were normal on the morning of March 22, but airlines were still dealing with the aftermath, said the airport's chief executive Thomas Woldbye.

"We don't expect any major amount of flights to be cancelled or delayed. There are some cancellations and there are some delays. We are handling them in the same way as we would normally do," Mr Woldbye told BBC Radio.

The vast majority of scheduled morning flights departed successfully on the morning of March 22, with a handful of delays and cancellations, Heathrow's departures website showed.