Roads leading to Heathrow Airport have reopened following a burst water main that caused significant flooding and travel disruption on Saturday morning. The incident occurred just before 6:00 AM BST, impacting the Inner Ring Road West and preventing access to the central terminal area, which serves Terminals 2 and 3.
Heathrow Airport confirmed that operations have returned to normal and apologized for the inconvenience caused. Despite the reopening of the roads, the airport is still advising passengers to utilize public transport due to lingering heavy congestion.
The disruption led to difficulties for some travelers trying to reach their flights. One passenger, 79-year-old George Smyrniadis, missed his flight to Frankfurt for a school reunion. He reported being stuck in traffic for 90 minutes on a journey that typically takes about 10 minutes, arriving at security past the cutoff time of 9:30 AM BST. Smyrniadis described the airport as chaotic, feeling that airlines were not accommodating passengers affected by the road closures.
The water main burst occurred beneath a ring road within the airport's central terminal area, leading to the flooding that hampered vehicle access.