Airplanes in the air for hours; The surrounding airports ready to receive them, while the sky turns "yellow"

One of the world's busiest airports, through which more than 200,000 passengers pass daily, was forced to close today after a fire in a nearby substation, which caused a major power outage.

The London Fire Brigade, meanwhile, announced that the fire at the North Hyde electrical substation, which closed Britain's largest airport until midnight, was now under control, but not yet extinguished.

It is stated that 70 firefighters responded in the first moment, and that teams will remain on the scene throughout the day, reports Sky News.

The national energy company announced that electricity has returned to 62,000 homes after the fire at the North Hyde substation, and that 4,900 customers are still without power, including Heathrow Airport, and restoration efforts have been ongoing since morning.

Total collapse in the air

American passengers due to land at Heathrow on Friday evening local time were abruptly diverted as the fire raged and word of the closure spread, according to FlightRadar.

A total of 120 planes already in the air were diverted or turned back, with numerous flights delayed or canceled due to the incident.

Passengers from San Francisco, Japan and Perth, Australia found themselves in the middle of the chaos, with an estimated 1,351 Heathrow flights affected by the closure during the day.

That means as many as 145,000 passengers could be affected by the closures, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Planes from Dallas, Chicago and Minneapolis were returning home after spending up to three hours in the air, reports the Daily Mail.

Passengers on other flights from the US will be diverted to other airports around the country. So, for example, a flight from Dallas will land in Bangor, Maine, instead of London, while a flight from San Francisco will end up at Dulles Airport.

Flight US 146 from Newark was one of the first affected by the diversion while in the air. It will now land in Shannon, Ireland just after 5 a.m., instead of Heathrow at 5.55 a.m.

Meanwhile, Qantas flight QF9 from Perth to Heathrow was diverted to Paris as European airports braced for an influx of planes already too deep into their routes to return.

Among the cities accepting diverted flights are Amsterdam, Newfoundland in Canada and Helsinki.

On a flight from Japan, passengers who spent 13 hours in the air will end up in Helsinki instead of London. Some more fortunate travelers will be diverted to other London airports - British Airways flights from Johannesburg, Lagos and Cape Town will now land at Gatwick.