Hong Kong’s Cathay weighs cancelling Heathrow flight over UK airport blackout

Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways could cancel at least one flight to Heathrow Airport after the British air hub closed on Friday due to a nearby substation outage caused by a fire.

According to the Airport Authority’s website, six flights from Hong Kong to Heathrow were scheduled for Friday. Five of them are operated by Cathay Pacific and the other one is run by British Airways.

A Cathay spokesman said the airline could cancel a flight scheduled to depart the city at 1.30pm (Hong Kong time).

The airline stopped short of saying whether it was considering cancelling two other flights scheduled to leave Hong Kong at 10.45pm and 11.35pm.

The Post learned that CX257, which departed for Heathrow at 8.10am, is now returning to Hong Kong after the airport’s closure was announced. The Post has reached out to the Airport Authority for confirmation and further details.

Britain’s Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest and the world’s fifth-busiest airport, was earlier forced to close after a huge fire at a nearby electrical substation triggered a blackout, disrupting flight schedules around the world.