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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Disruption at Heathrow Airport as control tower evacuated | Disruption at Heathrow Airport as control tower evacuated |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| A number of planes at Heathrow Airport have been disrupted after its control tower was forced to evacuate. | A number of planes at Heathrow Airport have been disrupted after its control tower was forced to evacuate. |
| The fire alarm on the airfield meant several flights were unable to land or take-off from the airport. | |
| Flights were forced to divert to Gatwick and Stansted airports, while some had to return to their original destinations after take-off. | Flights were forced to divert to Gatwick and Stansted airports, while some had to return to their original destinations after take-off. |
| Heathrow Airport said the alarm has been investigated, and "operations" have started to resume. | Heathrow Airport said the alarm has been investigated, and "operations" have started to resume. |
| A spokeswoman for the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) said "the control tower had been evacuated" after an alarm was triggered. | |
| Passengers tweeted about being stuck on planes because of the delays. | |
| Heathrow Airport has tweeted to apologise for the delays. | |
| Analysis | Analysis |
| By Tom Edwards, BBC London transport correspondent | |
| Heathrow is one of busiest airports in the world with an average 210,000 passengers leaving and arriving every day. | Heathrow is one of busiest airports in the world with an average 210,000 passengers leaving and arriving every day. |
| At the moment airports are experiencing busy holiday periods - so to shut Heathrow's runways even for just 20 minutes has a huge impact. | At the moment airports are experiencing busy holiday periods - so to shut Heathrow's runways even for just 20 minutes has a huge impact. |
| Planes land every 90 seconds, so the closure will have a knock-on impact affecting thousands of passengers with delays - a few planes have even had to be diverted to Stansted. | Planes land every 90 seconds, so the closure will have a knock-on impact affecting thousands of passengers with delays - a few planes have even had to be diverted to Stansted. |
| That said, safety protocols at airports are normally extremely strict, and it looks like there was no option other than to stop flights while the fire alarm was investigated. | That said, safety protocols at airports are normally extremely strict, and it looks like there was no option other than to stop flights while the fire alarm was investigated. |
| British Airways also cancelled a number of short-haul flights after being hit by computer problems on Wednesday evening. | |
| A spokesman said: "As with a number of airlines, we are experiencing some disruption at Heathrow a result of an issue with a supplier IT system." | |
| Virgin Atlantic said it is not affected by any IT issues at Heathrow. |