Simon Calder provides update on Luton airport fire as travellers hospitalised
Up to 40,000 passengers have been affected by flight cancellations after a large fire broke out at one of London’s Luton Airport’s car parks.
The airport has now suspended all flights until at least 3pm, as firefighters remain at the site of blaze that broke out just before 9pm.
The newly-built car park building at the airport’s Terminal 2 has partially collapsed, the Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said. It was not known if any passengers were trapped on the tarmac, inside the airport or in the Terminal 2 car park.
The fire service said it was called to the incident just before 9pm and over 10 fire engines were at the scene. It added that 80 per cent of one of the car park’s third floors was impacted by the blaze.
Up to 1,200 vehicles may have been in the car park at the time of the fire and subsequently damaged.
In a statement posted to X on Wednesday morning the airport added: “Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport at this time as access remains severely restricted.”
40,000 passengers affected at Luton
The number of passengers affected is thought to be around 40,000, Simon Calder reports.
Luton Airport have suspended all flights until 3pm, the airport said in a statement on X.
Emergency services are still at the site of the blaze, which began at 9pm last night in newly built Terminal 2 car park.
It was not known if any passengers were trapped on the tarmac, inside the airport or in the car park, but 1,200 vehicles are thought to be damaged.
Britain Luton Airport Fire
(Molly Bullard)
Athena Stavrou11 October 2023 08:36
Ramp to be put in place for exit route
A ramp is currently being installed in the collapsed car park to allow safe exit for undamaged cars.
Andrew Hopkinson, chief fire officer for Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said the fire at Luton Airport has been “stood down from a major incident”.
He told reporters at the scene that a ramp is being installed “into the unaffected car park because the normal exit route is not safe to take vehicles out”.
He went on: “We’ve currently got four fire appliances and a couple of other specialist crews but we are very much focused on getting a handover and getting this airport open as quickly as we can.”
He said there…
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