Sri Lankan Airlines has cancelled several flights to London scheduled to depart Colombo today, due to the temporary closure of Heathrow Airport in London following a large fire at a nearby electrical substation.

Accordingly, the Sri Lanka’s national carrier announced that SriLankan Airlines flights UL 503 (Colombo to London), scheduled to depart at 12:50 hrs and UL 504 (London to Colombo), scheduled to depart at 20:40 hrs on 21 March 2025, will not operate. 

SriLankan Airlines apologised for the inconvenience caused and urged cooperation as the carrier is making necessary arrangements for affected customers. “The airline is closely monitoring the situation and will resume flights to London as soon as Heathrow reopens”, it said in a statement.

Passengers requiring assistance are encouraged to contact the SriLankan Airlines Customer Centre at 1979 (within Sri Lanka), +94117 77 1979 (international) or +94744 44 1979 (WhatsApp chat) or reach out to their nearest SriLankan Airlines office or their travel agent.

Britain’s Heathrow Airport was closed for the day Friday after a fire knocked out its power, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers at Europe’s busiest travel hub.

At least 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow were affected already, including several from U.S. cities that were canceled, flight tracking service FlightRadar 24 said. 

Several jets were diverted to Gatwick Airport outside London, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Ireland’s Shannon Airport, tracking services showed.