Heathrow reopens after fire forces mass flight cancellations

Flights at Britain's Heathrow resumed late on Friday after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut down Europe's busiest airport for the day, stranding tens of thousands of passengers and causing travel turmoil worldwide.

Heathrow said its teams worked tirelessly to reopen the world's fifth-busiest airport after it was forced to close entirely when a huge fire engulfed a nearby substation on Thursday night, with travelers told to stay away.

The airport had been due to handle 1,351 flights on Friday, carrying up to 291,000 passengers, but planes were diverted to other airports in Britain and across Europe, while many long-haul flights returned to their point of departure.

Heathrow said there would be a limited number of flights on Friday, mostly focused on relocating aircraft and bringing planes into London.

"Tomorrow morning, we expect to be back in full operation, to 100 percent operation as a normal day," said Heathrow Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye. "What I'd like to do is to apologize to the many people who have had their travel affected ... we are very sorry about all the inconvenience."

Police said that after an initial assessment, they were not treating the incident as suspicious, although inquiries remained ongoing. The London Fire Brigade said its investigation would focus on the electrical distribution equipment.