London's Heathrow Airport closed on Friday due to a fire at a nearby power station, leaving the airport without power. London's Western International Market was also closed for a time as it was also without power.
Heathrow announced the closure in the early hours of Friday morning. The airport handles almost £222bl worth of cargo per year, and £543m travels through the airport each day. Vegetables and flowers make up a large part of the goods imported.
Researchers at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) calculated the economic impacts of the airport and estimated in 2021 the value of trade it contributed would reach £204bn by 2025. It would contribute £4.7bn to the economy, it forecast, meaning a daily contribution of £12.88m, a figure that could be lost by the airport's shutdown reported news.sky.com
The outage is likely to be considered a force majeure event, meaning compensation may not be paid out.