Heathrow to resume operations Saturday; Most buses & trains to London have sold out

Buses and trains between the Netherlands and London were far more crowded than usual on Friday due to the power outage that forced the suspension of all operations at Heathrow Airport for the entire day. The problem was due to a fire at a transformer station, but Europe’s busiest airport said it expects to be fully operational on Saturday.

Some airlines were going to be allowed to bring aircraft to Terminals 3 and 5 at Heathrow on Friday evening to prepare for passenger service. “The night curfew will remain in force. A return to normal operations is anticipated tomorrow, subject to successful remediation works overnight,” European air traffic service Eurocontrol said at 5:20 p.m. on Friday.

Discount bus operator FlixBus confirmed that about 75 percent of the buses to and from London were sold out on Friday, including a large number of buses between Amsterdam and London. That is more than normal, a spokesperson indicated, adding that if the disruptions at the airport continue, FlixBus will remain busy.

International train provider Eurostar noted more last-minute bookings on Friday, a spokesperson said. Trains to and from London, which were already largely sold out at the start of the day, were even closer to being completely booked by the end of the afternoon. More trains were also running between Paris and London “to help affected passengers”, according to the Eurostar website.

All 30 flights that were supposed to operate between Schiphol Airport and Heathrow Airport on Friday have been cancelled, a Schiphol spokesperson confirmed. The scheduled flights are operated daily by KLM and British Airways, with 15 of them already scrapped by 9 a.m.

A KLM spokesperson said they cancelled 14 flights in total between the two airports, essentially seven roundtrip pairings. Some of the affected passengers will instead be able to fly to London City Airport on Friday, as KLM has scheduled four extra flights to the smaller airport. The rest will be rebooked on Saturday as airlines determine how they can get their passengers to Heathrow or other airfields in the London area.

The KLM spokesperson could not say how many of his airline’s passengers were affected. Whether passengers will be able to go to Heathrow on Saturday will be announced at a later time, he said.