Calgary travelers see cancellations, delays after fire near London’s Heathrow Airport

Travelers in Calgary are feeling the impacts of a massive fire near one of the world’s busiest airports.

Air Canada tells CityNews seven flights to London were cancelled Thursday. Six of those were in the air and had to return, while a seventh was cancelled before departure. This included one from Toronto, and one each from Calgary, Montreal, and the Delhi-London-Calgary flight.

Including return flights by those planes from London, Air Canada says the total number of flights cancelled is 16.

WestJet confirms to CityNews two of its flights were cancelled as a result of the incident — one from YYC to Heathrow on Thursday, and one from Heathrow to YYC on Friday.

This comes after a large fire near the airport knocked out power to the flight hub, disrupting global travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers.

Authorities don’t know what caused the fire, but so far found have no evidence it was suspicious.

Residents in west London described hearing a large explosion, followed by a fireball and clouds of smoke, when the blaze ripped through the electrical substation near the airport.

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports for international travel. It had its busiest January on record earlier this year, with more than 6.3 million passengers, up more than five per cent from the same period last year.

Air Canada has cancelled its morning flight from Halifax to London.

The airline says it’s waiting for more information from Heathrow to determine when the airport will reopen and how many flights will be able to fly Friday night.

Six flights Air Canada flights to London Friday are still in limbo, including one out of Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver, and three from Toronto.

One WestJet flight to London scheduled for Friday evening out of YYC is set to happen as morning.

AirCanada and WestJet each have flights out of YYC set for Saturday.

The impact is expected to last several days as passengers try to reschedule their travel and airlines work to get planes and crews to the right spots.

Those traveling in the next few days are advised to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport.

-With files from The Associated Press