At least 16 flights between S'pore, London affected by airport's closure

At least 16 flights between Singapore and London were cancelled or diverted after Heathrow, the British capital's main airport, was forced to shut due to a massive power outage.

- Sherlyn Sim, Esther Loi, Ian Cheng and Joakim Kang

Britain's biggest airport said at about 11am, Singapore time, on March 21 that it will be closed until midnight (8am on March 22, Singapore time).

Late on March 21, three Heathrow-bound flights from Singapore operated by British Airways and Australia's Qantas - BA16, QF1 and BA12 - appeared to be going ahead as planned.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) said four Singapore-bound flights from Heathrow on March 21, as well as two on March 22, had been cancelled.

Two SIA flights that left Singapore for Heathrow on March 20 and 21 were diverted - one to Frankfurt, Germany, and the other to Paris, France - while four scheduled for departure on March 21 and 22 were cancelled.

One of those cancelled, Flight SQ308, which left Singapore at about 9.20am on March 21, turned back to Changi Airport and landed at around 4.25pm.

Passengers on that flight told The Straits Times that about 3 1/2 hours into their journey, the pilot informed them that the crew had been instructed to turn the plane back due to a fire that broke out near Heathrow Airport, which disrupted the airport's power supply.

Some passengers were upset that their travel plans had been disrupted.

Mr Sylvester Fedor, who works in business development, was upset that he had to cancel his plans to visit friends in London and his holiday in Italy thereafter.