Fire that closed London's Heathrow Airport affecting New York travelers

Flights have resumed at London's Heathrow Airport, but travelers with plans to fly there out of Kennedy Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport should expect continued cancellations Friday after the European transportation hub was closed due to a fire at a nearby electrical substation — disrupting travel plans around the world.

Some flights were diverted midair, transportation officials said.

FlightAware, a flight tracking platform, reported Friday that nine overnight flights headed to Heathrow from Kennedy were forced to turn around. Another four Heathrow-bound planes that departed Newark on Thursday night also had to turn back, according to the platform.

Cancellations involving Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, began on Thursday night and officials said disruptions could continue for days.

Between Thursday and Friday, 16 flights scheduled to head to the London airport from Kennedy had been canceled by late Friday afternoon, according to FlightAware. One Saturday morning flight to Heathrow from Kennedy also had been canceled.

At the Newark airport, seven flights scheduled to fly to Heathrow had been canceled by late Friday afternoon, according to the flight tracking platform.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in an email Friday that while air traffic operations were operating normally in the United States, “the FAA is working with our international counterparts to minimize impacts.”

On Thursday just before midnight, power was knocked out at Heathrow Airport after a fire erupted in west London.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but authorities have found no evidence it was suspicious.

British Airways CEO Sean Doyle said in a video statement that every short-haul flight and most of the airline's long-haul flights that were scheduled for Friday had been canceled.

"We’ve been forced to effectively ground our flying operation," he said, adding: “This is an unprecedented situation and we have not seen a closure of Heathrow of this scale for many years. Unfortunately, it will have a huge impact on all of our customers flying with us over the coming days."

The airline advised customers to rebook their flights online rather than calling and said they could rebook with British Airways or another airline, or request a full refund.

With AP