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A fire near London Heathrow Airport last week led to a major power outage and the temporary closure of the UK's busiest airport. The incident affected operations for almost 24 hours and forced airlines to divert flights and make quick decisions about passenger transportation.
On Tuesday, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson discussed the airline's handling of the situation at the 2025 Airbus Summit in Toulouse. "We have two flights into Heathrow that land pretty early in the morning, and they were both pretty close when Heathrow closed down. So they diverted to Paris. We were recovered within 24 hours, and we moved the customers that de-boarded in Paris to London via bus, or we got them onto other services if they were going to Europe," Hudson explained.
Qantas opted to transport deplaned passengers from Paris to London by bus—a journey which can take over eight hours. Hudson noted this was the fastest available option given the closure of Heathrow for the duration of the day. "It was quicker to do that, because if you think about it, the aircraft were on the ground and the airport was closed all day. We had buses waiting for them [the passengers], and they got there."
