‘It is getting on my nerves!’ Passenger fumes over ‘lack of communication’ in travel chaos

“But the lack of communication is really getting on my nerves, to be fair. We were told on the website that we were flying out tonight at 11:33pm, but all the news we’ve been told about today is that it’s closed for 24 hours.

“Compensation, nothing’s been said about that. It’s quite frustrating. It’s never happened to me before. I’ve travelled several times, so it is the waiting game. But the lack of communication really is is the key to situation here. I’m not the only person.

She added: “You get a drip of information. You’re told one thing and then you get another text through.

“Then someone hears something else on the radio and from another passenger, and it’s not clear. Sometimes they want to give you as little information as possible.”

The closure followed a massive blaze at a North Hyde substation late Thursday night, causing widespread power outages affecting the airport’s operations.

The scale of the disruption is unprecedented, with about 1,300 flights expected to be affected and an estimated 145,000 travellers impacted.

Issues could potentially continue for days, according to reports. The fire has also affected train schedules in the area, compounding travel difficulties.

Heathrow, the UK’s largest airport, typically manages around 1,300 air traffic movements daily. Last year, a record 83.9 million travellers passed through its terminals.